One in a Million
by ravengal
Summary: For the longest time, Pikachu has avoided thinking about Buneary's feelings, and whether or not he returns them. Now that Ash's battle with Paul is approaching, however, and a strange festival is being held at Lake Acuity... he may just find the answers he's looking for.
1. Taking Precautions

Author's note: Howdy, everyone!

While I take a short break from my other fics, I thought I'd make a new one! Partly so I can have a break from all the 'Why is Pikachu so dense' comments, I won't lie. XD They've kind of worn me down a bit.

... Then again, maybe anime Pikachu is just destined to be called dense, no matter the fic. XD

Regardless! It's time to work on a fun, slightly wacky fic.

At the same time, I'm also posting a Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky fic! One that promises to cut the fat, and only show the juicy parts of the post-game story!

Hey, I should use that to advertise the fic better, thinking about it!

... Of course, that means there be spoilers in them thar hills, so be warned, me hearties!

Ahem. Anywho... hope you enjoy this new fic!

* * *

**Chapter One****: Taking Precautions**

"Gliscor, Steel Wing!" Ash called out.

His pincer wings glowing white, Gliscor swooped down towards ground level.

Ash continued. "Good! Now, Chimchar, counter it with Flame Wheel!"

Spinning in a ball of flames, Chimchar leapt up, meeting Gliscor halfway in a head-on collision.

"Great job, guys!" Ash said. "Now, Chimchar, Flamethrower!"

Unravelling himself while still in mid-air, Chimchar shot a stream of fire from his mouth.

Ash continued. "And Gliscor, block it with X-Scissor!"

His pincers glowing pale blue, Gliscor crossed them over his chest. The Flamethrower struck hard, pushing him back slightly and bouncing off in all directions, though he stayed firm.

From the sidelines nearby, Pikachu smiled. Their training was going really well! They'd been at this for several days, already, in preparation for Ash's first full battle with Paul, and things were looking good! It seemed Ash had been paying attention in the pokémon trainers' school recently, too, judging by how he was trying to improve on his move-calling reflexes. Maybe they really had a shot at winning this battle, after all!

Pikachu felt an icy cold breeze blow across his fur, and sighed contently. It was quite nice, actually. Unlike humans, pokémon were much more resistant to the cold, especially if they had fur. Hence why Ash, Brock and Dawn were all still dressed in the winter coats that Dawn's mother, Johanna, had made for them.

He glanced around the battlefield, admiring the view. Snowpoint City was certainly one of the prettier locations they'd stayed in, that was for sure. The grass, trees and bushes were all coated in a layer of white snow. Not to mention, the buildings had a very old-timey feel to them. One of his favourite places to visit so far, especially since he didn't really mind the cold.

The battlefield of this pokémon centre, though, had been kept clear of snow and ice, most likely to avoid any trainers or pokémon from hurting themselves. It was appreciated, as he could still enjoy the scenery without worrying about slipping, or getting stuck in a pile of snow.

His eyes travelled over his friends, who were also on the sidelines. Buizel, Grotle and Staraptor were paying close attention to the practice battle, but it seemed they were the only ones. Everyone else, who were much further away from him, seemed to be off in their own little worlds. Not that he could blame them, he supposed. Ash's team had been training for several days in a row now, so their interest in it was probably waning a bit.

He looked around at them all. Brock and Dawn were having a pleasant conversation, Mamoswine appeared to be fast asleep, Croagunk was staring at his reflection in a frozen puddle, Sudowoodo and Happiny looked like they were playing hopscotch with squares they'd drawn in the snow, Piplup and Pachirisu were talking animatedly, and Buneary was sitting down, looking inside the pages of a small magazine.

... Huh, wasn't that the copy of Poké Chic that had inspired Dawn to design a vest for Buneary? The vest that her mother had made, and the one that Buneary was currently wearing? Dawn had bought that magazine not long before she and Buneary had won the Hearthome Collection, yet she still had it? How strange. He was sure she'd have thrown it away by now.

Curiously, he watched as Piplup and Pachirisu took a sudden interest in the magazine. Approaching Buneary, they had a quick look. After a moment, they glanced at each other, mischievous looks on their faces. Turning back to Buneary, they said something to her, though Pikachu was too far away to hear what it was. Not to mention, it was difficult hearing anything over Ash's shouting.

Whatever Piplup and Pachirisu had said, it caused Buneary's mouth to drop open in shock. Her head snapped in Pikachu's direction, and their gazes locked.

His back stiffened. Oh dear. Whatever had been said was apparently about him, and that only meant that something embarrassing was about to happen.

Standing up, she hurriedly hopped over to him around the side of the battlefield. When she reached him, she thrust the magazine in his face. On the page was a pikachu wearing a grey, diamond-shaped apron with a red pokéball symbol on it. He vaguely recognised the picture from a while back, when Dawn had said it was 'Buneary's favourite' from the magazine.

His heart pounded in anxious anticipation. What was she about to say?

"(Oh my gosh, Pikachu, is this really you?!)" she asked. "(Why didn't you tell me you modelled for Poké Chic?! Or that you were this pikachu right here?!)"

... What?

"(Uh...?)" he replied, a little overwhelmed and confused.

"(Wow, that explains why he's just as hot as you! Because he _is_ you!)"

"(But...)"

"(I can't believe you did this and didn't tell me! Have you taken any _more_ pictures?! I wanna see 'em! Come on, show 'em to me!)"

"(B-But I-!)"

She winked flirtatiously at him. "(Wow, who knew we were modelling buddies?! I bet you look really hot in your other outfits, too! Since you can even make a plain old apron look good!)"

His face now burning, he glanced away in embarrassment. Did she always have to be so forward? Especially when there were other people around?

"(B-Buneary...)" He could feel eyes on him everywhere. "(That's... not me.)"

"(... He's not?)"

"(N-No. I've never modelled for Poké Chic.)"

"(But... Piplup and Pachirisu said this was you!)"

He blinked, his eyes widening. Glancing over at the duo in question, he saw them in fits of laughter.

... Oh, for crying out loud. Those jerks...

Back when Ambipom had been around, she'd be the one to trick Buneary into embarrassing Pikachu, just for her own amusement. Now that she'd left to pursue a career in ping pong, it seemed Piplup and Pachirisu had taken up the mantle for her...

Oh, god, he'd just reminded himself of the day of Ash and Dawn's double appeal practice battle, where Buneary had loudly called out 'Looking good there, handsome~!' while winking at him. In front of Aipom, Buizel, Piplup, Pachirisu, and even Zoey's glameow and shellos.

He'd wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment, though not as much as the following morning...

* * *

_"(Hey, Pikachu!)" Buneary loudly called out across the campsite._

_Pikachu jumped in surprise, before turning to look at her. "(Uh... y-yeah?)" he called back cautiously._

_"(Yesterday, when we were battling, I was flirting with you, you know!)"_

_Every head turned at this declaration. His eyes widened and his face exploded in heat. _

_She paused, watching him expectantly, but his throat had locked up in his humiliation. When he took too long to respond, she continued._

_"(You know, because I like you! I think you're hot and wanna date youuuu~!)"_

_He heard sniggers around him. He suddenly had a desperate need to bury his head in the dirt._

_"(Wh... Wh...)" he mumbled. He looked around, trying his best to avoid eye contact with everyone. "(Why are you... shouting that...?)"_

_"(What?!)" Apparently, she hadn't heard him._

_"(I...)" He gulped, raising his voice. "(I said why are you shouting that?)"_

_"(Because Aipom said you didn't get it! And that I should be more loud and blunt, so you'll get it better! So here! I like youuuu~!)"_

_His head snapped in Aipom's direction, while his heart did weird contortions in his chest. The monkey fell over, laughing._

_... That little..._

_He forced his head to turn back in Buneary's direction. The rabbit was beaming at him expectantly._

_"(Can... can I...)" he replied, his voice cracking, "(get back to you on that?)"_

_"(Oh, sure! Take all the time you need~!)"_

_The group couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Everyone except for Buizel, though he also looked vaguely amused._

_Pikachu buried his face in his paws. He didn't remove them for a while._

* * *

Oh, god, and now Pikachu had been reminded of the time when Chimchar had recently joined the team. The pokémon had all huddled together, sleeping outside on a blanket, content as could be. The next morning, however, he'd woken up to some early morning embarrassment...

* * *

_Pikachu cracked open his eyes. Stretching, he yawned. Man, that had been an amazing night's sleep. He felt more rested than he'd done in a while. Maybe it was because of that comfortable weight on his back and to his side._

_He paused. Wait. What the heck was that, anyway?_

_He glanced to his side. His eyes widened when he saw Buneary beaming back at him._

_"(Oh, morning, handsome~!)" she said._

_... She was hugging him, wasn't she?_

_His face exploded in heat. "(Uh...)" he stuttered, "(what... wh-what are you doing?)"_

_"(Well, Aipom said that if I hugged you while you were sleeping, my feelings would get through and you'd dream about me! Then you'd wake up and realise you like me!)" She paused, smiling at him expectantly. "(... So, did it work?)"_

_His heart contorted weirdly in his chest, as he once again felt a desperate need to bury his head in the dirt. Why did Aipom have to keep doing this to him?_

_Around him, he heard most of his friends crack up in laughter. Glancing around to avoid eye contact, he accidentally locked gazes with Chimchar. The monkey, despite being timid and unsure of himself, had a hand over his mouth, looking shocked and vaguely amused at the same time._

_... While it was nice that he was starting to warm up to the group a bit, after being mistreated and released by Paul, did it really have to come at Pikachu's expense?_

_Groaning, he looked away again. It was too early for this..._

_"(... Well?)" Buneary asked._

_Oh, right. In his utter humiliation, he'd forgotten to answer._

_"(Um... I-I'm still not sure... I need more- a __**lot**__ more time to think about it.)"_

_"(Oh, okay! No rush~!)"_

_He planted his face on the blanket. No rush. Sure. As though Aipom would pass up more chances to humiliate him..._

* * *

Seriously, Ambipom had caused Pikachu nothing but trouble since she'd been around. Although he hadn't wanted her to leave Dawn's team for ping pong, it had been kind of a relief at the same time. With no Ambipom, there'd be less opportunities for him to get horribly embarrassed.

... That is, until Piplup and Pachirisu had continued where she'd left off. Pikachu was never allowed a break, was he?

"(... So this _isn't_ you?)" Buneary asked, snapping Pikachu out of his thoughts.

Giving his head a slight shake, he turned back to her. "(Uh, no,)" he replied. "(I've no idea who that guy is.)"

She blinked, looking down at the page where the pikachu was. "(... Oh.)" She paused. "(Why'd they tell me it _was_, then?)"

He sighed. "(Because they like messing with you. After Aipom, you should be expecting it...)"

"(I guess so...)" She brightened up. "(But hey! Maybe you _should_ get a photo shoot! Then _you_ can be in the magazine, too! Maybe Dawn can call that Hermione woman and get you a sweet deal!)" Turning the magazine around, she excitedly flipped through it. When she eventually stopped on a page, she turned it back around for him to see. "(Your picture can go right here, instead of this guy!)"

On the page was a bidoof in a rather fancy outfit.

"(I can't just...)" He paused as he realised something. "(... This is an old magazine, though. It's already been made and sold.)"

She blinked. "(... Oh yeah.)" She smiled. "(Well, there's always the next issue!)"

He chuckled bashfully, before looking closely at the picture. "(... Why this bidoof, though? You're saying you want me to replace him?)"

"(Yeah! You're way hotter than he is!)" She glanced down at the magazine. "(Though I really like the outfit.)" She looked back up at him. "(Though it'd look way better on _you_~!)" She winked flirtatiously.

He chuckled bashfully again, his face growing hot. Did this girl have to be so loud? Everyone could always hear her...

Though it wasn't as if he _disliked_ the praise, exactly...

Suddenly, Ash let out a huff of satisfied air. "Alright, good work, guys!" he said.

"(Thanks!)" Chimchar replied, beaming.

"(Yeah, we did great!)" Gliscor replied, winking and sticking out his tongue.

"Okay, go take a break," Ash said. "Hey, Pikachu, you ready to train, buddy?"

Pikachu looked up at him, nodding with a smile. "(Yeah, sure,)" he replied.

Ash beamed back. "Cool! It can be you and..." He looked contemplative.

"(Please do me!)" Grotle called out from the sidelines.

Ash looked over at Grotle. "Okay, Grotle, you're up!"

"(Ooh, you're gonna train?)" Buneary asked enthusiastically, attracting Pikachu's attention. "(Well, then, talk to you later, hot stuff~! I wanna get a good seat~!)"

He chuckled bashfully, yet again. "(Sure,)" he replied. "(See ya.)"

She giggled and waved as she hopped along the edge of the battlefield, back to where she'd been before. "(Byeeee~!)"

He gave a gentle wave back. "(Bye.)"

Jeez, that girl. One would think that, after several months of this, he'd be used to it by now. He wasn't sure he could _ever_ get used to it, though.

... Speaking of which, he still hadn't given her an answer. When she'd asked that humiliating question about whether or not he'd wanted to date her, Ash had only earned two badges in Sinnoh. Now, in Snowpoint City, he'd recently earned his seventh badge, and Pikachu was still no closer to answering Buneary's question. He'd been putting it off for so long...

Despite that, she'd been incredibly patient with him. Sure, she flirted with him pretty much every chance she got, but it was surprising how long she was willing to wait. She never seemed upset or annoyed about it, either. She truly had the patience of a god.

Ohhh, but the idea of a relationship had always been so embarrassing! Before he'd met her, he'd wanted to avoid one at all costs. For the longest time, he'd gotten away with it, too, as no girls had taken any interest in him. Then, not long into Ash's journey through Sinnoh, Pikachu had met Buneary, and she encompassed everything he'd been afraid of encountering...

Still, though, perhaps he did owe her an answer soon. Since she'd waited so long, and Ash's journey through Sinnoh was reaching an end. All he needed was to earn one more badge, compete in the league, and then he'd probably be off to the next region. Unless he won the Sinnoh League, of course. In which case, Pikachu had no idea what would happen. No one had ever really discussed what happened when a trainer won a league, so it was rather exciting and mysterious.

Regardless, he'd try. For the next few days, he'd think of an answer. He'd think really hard about whether or not he was willing to go against his ideals and date a girl.

In the meantime, though, he and Grotle had some training to do.


	2. Enjoying Luxuries

Author's note: Heyo!

Okay, better get this out of the way first...

Reviewing tip of the day! It's not good to pester people about pairings you want them to write. Instead, comment on the fic they _are_ writing, and how you're liking it so far! That would be a million times more appreciated, as it shows that you actually _care about_ the story they're putting so much effort into!

For example, just to clarify... I don't mind if you write Ash/Dawn. Heck, if you think it enhances Pikachu/Buneary, then all power to you. But it's not on my list of favourite shippings, so don't expect to see it in my stories, unless otherwise stated.

Remember, when pokémon fall in love, that doesn't mean their corresponding trainers have to fall in love with each other, too. XP They're their own people, after all, with their own hearts and minds.

Sure, it would most likely create complications down the line... but isn't that part of the fun? Think of all the ways you could come up with to work _around_ the complications!

Sorry. This has just always bugged me, so I thought I'd mention it. Like I said, though, if you like Ash/Dawn, then all power to you!

With that said, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Two****: Enjoying Luxuries**

Balancing on his tail, Pikachu pressed his paws against the window. He smiled as he watched the mountainous scenery pass by. It wasn't often at all that Ash travelled by train, so it was a nice change to walking everywhere.

This train, oddly, was rather small and slow, compared to other ones he'd ridden. Especially the last one, which they'd taken to protect a shaymin from a man known as Zero, and his team of magnemite, magneton and magnezone.

In fact, this train was fairly similar to the one they'd ridden across the Pastoria Great Marsh not long ago, except the seats had been much smaller in that train. Since only two people had been able to fit on each seat, Pikachu had ridden on Ash's lap. Not that he'd minded, as the view of the marsh had been really interesting. It was rare that he got to see marshes, after all.

His favourite train, though, had to have been the monorail in LaRousse City, back in Hoenn, with how high up it had been and how fast it had been moving. He hadn't been able to sit on the seats of that one, but he hadn't minded. They'd been too far away from the window, anyway, and he'd wanted to enjoy the lovely view.

Yep, it had definitely been his favourite. At least, so far. Hopefully, he'd get to ride more trains in the future.

"Enjoying the view there, Pikachu?" Brock asked from the seat next to him in an amused tone.

Turning his body slightly, Pikachu nodded back in response. "(Yeah, it's pretty good!)" he replied.

On the seat opposite, Ash chuckled at him. "It wasn't that long ago we last rode a train, buddy!" he said. "Two, in fact!"

"(Yeah, well... still.)"

The 'Shaymin and Zero' train had been a _little_ while ago, since it'd been back when Mamoswine had still been a swinub...

"Pity we didn't get much chance to enjoy that last one, though, huh?" Dawn asked in slight amusement. "Thanks to the magnemite and all."

"At least you got to sit down, Dawn," Ash said, also sounding amused.

"Yeah," Brock added with a chuckle. "Must be nice for some."

Dawn giggled in response. "It was!" she replied smugly.

"(Man, you guys missed out!)" Piplup said. "(Those seats were way comfier than these ones.)"

"(Aww, really?)" Pikachu asked. He dropped down onto his rear on the seat. Despite being cushioned, it was surprisingly hard. "(I never got to sit on them...)"

"(Yeah. They were way better.)"

Pikachu exhaled some air in disappointment. "(Dang.)"

Ah well. Despite the train being small, slow _and_ uncomfortable, he was still enjoying himself. He had plenty of time to do so, too, since it would be a little while before they arrived at the train station outside of Lake Acuity.

Ash had decided to set off a day early, to get there in plenty of time for tomorrow's battle. They'd get there, enjoy the sights, do some last-minute training, then stay at the pokémon centre for the night. Then they'd be well rested for their match against Paul.

Right now, though, Pikachu had time to spare. He glanced around at Ash, Dawn, Brock and Piplup. His gaze lingered on Piplup, as he remembered the events from a few days ago.

So far, he hadn't come up with an answer for Buneary. That said, he'd been rather busy with training the last few days, so there hadn't been much time for it, like he'd wanted.

... Then again, maybe he'd just been delaying it again. He'd spent so long burying his head in the sand over the issue that he'd grown rather used to it. 'I'll deal with it another day', he'd tell himself. Perhaps that was a bad mentality to have. Especially since Buneary had gone so long without an answer.

... Ohhh, but, then again, Ash's battle with Paul was coming up really soon, so shouldn't he be focusing on that?

Argh, he was doing it again. Whenever it came to something embarrassing, he'd avoid it like the plague. All because he didn't want to be a laughing stock, like before he'd met Ash.

He shuddered at the mere thought.

No. He hated being laughed at. Which was why he was always putting off answering Buneary's question. Maybe he really should attempt to answer it soon, though.

He had some time to kill before the train got to its destination, so maybe he should think about it now, while it was peaceful and quiet.

... As soon as he thought that to himself, Ash got up from his seat and loudly announced how excited he was for his battle. It scared a passing man in a trench coat so badly that he yelped, fell backwards and dropped his boxed lunches.

Pikachu huffed amusedly. Well, so much for peace and quiet...

The trench coat man introduced himself as Looker, offering them the boxed lunches that he'd dropped. He also offered some to the people sitting in the seats adjacent to the group.

Pikachu blinked. Huh. He didn't remember seeing those people before. Had they always been there? And why were they dressed in hats, trench coats, sunglasses _and_ face masks? It wasn't cold anymore, after all. Since leaving Snowpoint City, Ash, Brock and Dawn had gone back to their old outfits, which weren't nearly as warm.

... Then again, maybe they all had really bad colds? It wouldn't surprise him if one of them had caught a cold at Snowpoint City and passed it onto the other two. Humans did tend to be really bad with the cold, after all.

It was then that Looker said he was going to give the remaining boxed lunches to the conductor, the engineer and the assistant pokémon.

"Assistant pokémon?" Ash asked.

"I think there's an electric-type pokémon working on this train," Brock explained.

Ash sat up straight, looking intrigued. "An electric-type? Sounds cool!"

Dawn smiled widely. "I wonder which pokémon it is!" she said excitedly.

Pikachu smiled. Yeah, he wouldn't mind knowing that, himself.

* * *

Pikachu watched in fascinated awe. An ampharos was using Thunderbolt to pump electricity into a generator through a lightning rod, in order to power the train. He was currently using it, at the engineer's instruction, to help the train climb a steep incline.

Sure, he'd seen much better technology back in LaRousse City, but the people living there were probably filthy rich, anyway. To see such cool technology in the less wealthy areas of the world was pretty neat, he had to say.

Suddenly, the engineer slowed the train to a stop. Apparently, there was a red light on the tracks. Confused, the man made a call about it from the phone in his cockpit. Once he was done talking, he put the phone down.

"According to the command centre," he said, swivelling around in his chair to face the group, "no trouble has been reported to warrant a red light... but there's no mechanical malfunction, either."

Huh. How weird.

Pikachu watched as the conductor began to exit the train to find out what the problem was, with Looker following behind him to take a walk in the countryside. Before closing the door, the conductor told the rest of them to wait in the train for now.

No one protested, which Pikachu had to admit was strange for Ash. Normally, he'd be really gung-ho and insist on helping out, but perhaps he didn't feel like it today? Either that, or he was still too busy thinking about his battle with Paul tomorrow.

Instead, as the engineer and his ampharos left to tell the other passengers about the delay, Ash, Dawn and Brock talked about having lunch. Huh. Actually, he was pretty hungry, come to think of it, so food sounded nice. He smiled. While they were eating, hopefully, the conductor would sort out the problem and they'd be back en route to Lake Acuity soon.

... Then maybe, finally, he'd get to ponder his answer to Buneary's question.

Argh. He wouldn't lie. He was sorely tempted to just bury his head in the sand again. It was warm, comfortable and familiar, this metaphorical sand. To leave the sand would mean exploring the unknown, and the embarrassing, and that terrified him.

... Still. He would attempt to grit his teeth and do it.

... After lunch.

* * *

Outside the train, there was a small incline by the side of the tracks. The group had carefully climbed down it, onto the rocky ground below, before setting up the food. There was plenty of space to eat here, and even a river on the opposite side, so it was a perfect place to eat lunch.

Once the humans were done setting up, they called out their pokémon and told them to enjoy the food.

Pikachu happily took one of the bowls nearest to Ash. Looking up, he saw Staraptor, Pachirisu, Buneary, Piplup and Mamoswine choosing bowls nearby. Glancing over at the other pokémon, he saw Chimchar, Grotle, Gliscor, Buizel, Croagunk, Sudowoodo and Happiny all sitting a bit further away, nearer to where Brock was.

Turning back to his own group, he began to eat his pellets. It was then that the noticed how close to him Buneary was sitting.

It only served to remind him of his after-meal task, but he'd worry about that later...

"So nice of him to give us this," Ash said.

"Mmm-hmm~!" Dawn agreed. After a moment, she sighed in delight. "It's so good, too!"

"Ah'll shay!" Ash sounded like he had a mouthful of food.

Brock chuckled. "Ash, empty your mouth before you talk," he chided.

There was a loud swallowing noise. "Sorry. It's pretty darn good, though!"

"Well, you're not wrong. Looker bought some high-quality lunches."

"Hmm?" Dawn suddenly asked. "What's that in your bag, Brock?"

"Huh? Oh, that?" There was some rustling around. "Well, back in the pokémon centre at Snowpoint City, I saw a chilli flakes shaker on the table... and I thought it might be fun to try making different flavours."

Intrigued, Pikachu turned his head around to look, as he chewed on one of his pellets. He saw Brock holding a shaker full of flakes, which were many different shades of pink.

The breeder shook it in his hand, and the flakes rattled around inside. "This one's candy flavour. I've been thinking about testing it, but it probably needs to go on desserts."

"(Candy flavour?!)" Buneary said in sudden interest.

Ash's face lit up. "Do we _have_ any desserts?!" he asked excitedly.

"Not on me," Brock replied. "They'd take a while to make." He chuckled. "I'm no gourmet chef, after all, though maybe I should give it a try sometime."

Ash's face fell again. "Aww..."

Dawn giggled. "Is that what you were doing last night, while I was watching TV and Ash was training in the cold?" she asked. "Making candy flakes?"

"Hey, it wasn't _that_ cold..." Ash muttered.

Brock chuckled. "Yeah, that's right," he replied. He held the shaker to his cheek lovingly. "I was in the kitchen with Nurse Joy~! She graciously lent it to me to use for the night and-!" He paused, glancing in Croagunk's direction. The frog was staring directly at him. "... She liked the candy flakes idea. That was nice."

The frog looked back down at his bowl. Brock heaved a sigh of relief.

"Either way," he continued, recovering, "I wouldn't mind if you two would test it for me to see if it's any good. It might not be good on the boxed lunches, though."

"Sure, I'll try some!" Ash replied.

"Me too!" Dawn replied.

Pikachu watched as Brock shook some candy flakes onto each outstretched hand. Ash and Dawn tasted the flakes, and their eyes lit up in awe.

"Delicious!" they both cried out at once.

"(It is?!)" Buneary cried out. Without warning, she zipped past Pikachu, coming to a stop in front of Brock. She held up her paws. "(I wanna taste test it! Lemmie taste test it! Uh, please!)"

Dawn giggled. "Looks like Buneary wants to try it, too!" she said.

Buneary nodded eagerly in response.

Ash's face lit up. "Hey, why not pass it around the pokémon?" he suggested. "Then you can get all the taste testers you want, Brock!"

"Not a bad idea, Ash," Brock replied. "Alright, here, Buneary." He passed her the candy flake shaker. "Let me know if it's worth making more of these."

"(Okay~!)" Buneary replied.

She quickly hopped back over to her bowl. When she reached it, she began to sprinkle the candy flakes over the pellets.

Pikachu stared. "(Um...)" he said, "(will that not ruin your food?)"

She stopped shaking it and turned to him, blinking. "(... It will?)"

"(Well... I dunno. Maybe?)"

She glanced down at her pellets. "(... I kinda assumed it'd be nice, 'cause it's sweet...)" Quickly grabbing a pellet, she nibbled on it. After a moment, her face lit up. "(I knew it! It's delicious!)"

He blinked. "(On pellets?)"

"(Yeah! Try some!)"

"(Well... okay, sure!)"

Moving a bit closer, she shook some flakes onto his pellets. Due to the pellets not being completely dry, the candy flakes seemed to stick to them perfectly fine.

"(Don't let your boyfriend hog it all!)" Piplup said. "(Give _me_ some, too!)"

Pikachu jolted, his face reddening. Dang it, he'd been caught off-guard...

"(Yeah and me!)" Pachirisu added.

Buneary beamed at them. "(Sure!)" she replied, hopping over to them. "(Though he's not my boyfriend yet!)"

The two of them burst into laughter, making Pikachu want to crawl underneath his own food bowl and just stay there for a while.

"(Just a few in my bowl,)" Mamoswine said.

"(Sure!)"

Glad for the distraction, Pikachu glanced up, watching Buneary sprinkle a tiny amount of candy flakes into Mamoswine's gigantic bowl. Surely, with the bowl being so much bigger than everyone's else's - due to Mamoswine's mammoth appetite - the flavour would get a bit lost in there, but whatever suited him.

"(Anyone else?)" Buneary asked, hopping into the middle of the group.

"(None for me, thanks,)" Staraptor replied.

"(Same,)" Buizel replied.

"(Yeah,)" Grotle replied, "(I prefer sweets _after_ a meal.)"

"(... Maybe a little bit,)" Chimchar replied. "(Not too much, though.)"

"(Lots for me, please~!)" Gliscor replied.

"(And me~!)" Happiny replied.

"(And a little for me~!)" Sudowoodo replied.

"(Okie dokes~!)" Buneary said, hopping over to them. She stopped in front of Croagunk. "(What about _you_, Croagunk?)"

He looked up from his pellets to stare unblinkingly at her. The air was silent and awkward for a few moments.

"(... I'll take that as a no!)" Buneary said cheerfully, before hopping past him.

After she was done sprinkling candy flakes onto the pellets of everyone who'd wanted them, she gave the shaker back to Brock.

"Looks like they really liked your candy flakes!" Dawn said.

"No kidding," Ash added. "They were a total hit!"

Brock chuckled. "Maybe I really _should_ make more, then," he replied. He smiled in exasperation. "Though I didn't think they'd put them on their pellets..."

Buneary hopped back over to her bowl. "(Hey, hey, let's all bunch up for a bit!)" she said excitedly. "(I wanna talk about the battle!)"

"(The one with Paul?)" Pikachu asked.

"(Yeah! That one!)" She shoved her bowl across the rocky ground, towards where the other group was sitting. "(Let's all sit together!)"

"(Uh, okay!)"

Standing up, he began to shove his bowl along the ground. He heard the others do the same behind him. He could even hear the loud scrape of Mamoswine's gigantic bowl.

He could only imagine what Buneary wanted to talk about, regarding the match...


	3. Helping Friends

Author's note: Heya, peeps!

Bouncing back from my bad cold to pump out some more chapters!

Oh, also... I recently discovered that Fanfiction hasn't been telling me about some of the PM and review replies that people have given me! How long has this been going on?! How many of you sent me a message that I didn't reply to, because I didn't know the message existed?!

So, now, I'll just have to check my inbox religiously, just to make sure I don't miss anything. You all make sure to do that, too, with your own inboxes. Just in case.

There's nothing worse than spending months being annoyed that someone didn't reply to your review, only to realise that they did. You just weren't told about it. Arrrrgggh!

... Ahem. Anyway. Moving on from that, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Three****: Helping Friends**

Pikachu nibbled on his candy-coated pellet, surprised by how tasty it was. The sweet flavour really complimented the earthy flavour of the pellets in a way that he hadn't expected. It also gave it a nice crunch.

"(Mmmm~!)" Buneary said next to him as she chewed her own pellet. "(It's shoooo good~!)" Swallowing, she smiled at everyone sitting around her. "(Everyone liking their candy flakes?)"

The ones who had them all nodded, murmuring in confirmation.

"(That's good!)" Buneary replied. She chewed another pellet, while making satisfied noises. Once she was done, she swallowed it. "(So! You guys looking forward to the match with Paul?)"

"(Heck yeah, I am,)" Buizel replied. He clenched a fist, smirking. "(Can't wait to kick that guy's butt!)"

"(Me too,)" Staraptor agreed. He fluffed his feathers. "(Though, after my last win against Honchrow, I'm feeling like I can take on the whole team!)"

Buizel glanced at him, smirking. "(Steady on there, big boots.)"

"(You mean that PokéRinger thing you won?)" Chimchar asked.

"(And evolved at!)" Staraptor replied proudly, puffing out his chest. "(Not to mention, learned Close Combat, mmm-hmm.)"

"(And people say _I_ have an ego...)" Piplup muttered. "(... Which I don't, by the way.)"

"(Riiiight...)" Mamoswine muttered back.

Pachirisu, Sudowoodo and Happiny all giggled in response. Piplup huffed, clearly not impressed, as he ate more of his pellets.

"(Speaking of Honchkrow,)" Grotle said, "(he's the guy I really wanna beat this time.)"

Buizel glanced at him. "(Oh yeah,)" he said, "(you evolved against him too, right?)"

"(Yeah, but, unlike Staraptor, I lost.)" Grotle smiled. "(This time, I wanna even the score a bit.)" He paused in thought. "(You think I can, though? I mean, I have that type disadvantage and all...)"

"(Yeah!)" Chimchar replied, looking semi-confident. "(I-I'm sure you'll be fine! Right? We _all_ will!)"

"(Ohhh, I hope so...)" Gliscor said, looking worried. "(I really wanna win this one for Ash...)" His eyes started watering. "(If... If we don't, then...!)"

Oh, gosh. Pikachu couldn't help but notice that his friends' confidence levels were all over the place right now. Some seemed to feel a lot more sure of themselves than others. He should probably think of something comforting to say, to ease their nerves a bit.

"(Well-)" he started.

"(It's okay!)" Buneary suddenly said. "(I'm sure you guys will do great! You've all been training super hard, right? So there's no way you'll lose!)"

Chimchar and Gliscor gave her surprised looks. "(... You think so?)" Chimchar asked.

"(Uh huh! I'm calling it now! A full six-zero in your favour!)"

Gliscor's eyes watered more. "(R-Really?)" he asked.

Grotle tilted his head. "(That's a bit much, isn't it?)" he asked.

"(No way!)" Buneary replied. "(You'll get 'em for sure! Right, Pikachu?)"

Pikachu jolted at the sound of his name. He turned to see Buneary beaming at him. "(... Huh?)" he asked.

"(The whole team's a shoo-in to beat Paul, right?)"

"(Oh! Uh, yeah!)"

She turned back to the others. "(Yeah, see? You'll all do great! Grotle will beat Honchkrow, just like he wants... Buizel's gonna...)" She paused. "(Wait, what do you want, again?)"

Buizel smirked. "(Heh,)" he replied. "(Just battling. Don't care who, don't care when or why. Just wanna battle.)"

"(Oh, okay! Staraptor, you'll... well, you'll keep being great!)"

Staraptor fluffed his feathers again. "(Naturally,)" he replied.

"(And Chimchar, you're gonna kick butt!)" Her eyes lit up. "(In fact, Paul said you're only good with Blaze, right? Well, you've just gotta prove him wrong!)"

Chimchar looked enlightened. "(... Yeah,)" he replied, in a trance. After a moment, a fire burned in his eyes and he grinned. "(Yeah! I'll... I'll get back at Paul and _all_ of his jerkwad team for saying I'm weak! And... And treating me like dirt! Especially Electabuzz!)" He paused. "(... Torterra, not so much, but definitely Electabuzz!)"

Buizel looked proudly down at him. "(Now you're talking,)" he said.

"(Yeah, that's the spirit!)" Buneary replied. "(And Gliscor, you're gonna make Ash proud! You've already made him proud up 'til now, so you can only make him prouder!)"

Gliscor beamed through his tears. "(Really?)" he asked.

She nodded. "(Yeah!)"

He chuckled. Then the chuckle became a belly laugh as he wiped away his tears. "(Yeah, you're right! You're right! We're gonna go out there and make Ash proud!)" He winked and stuck out his tongue.

"(Yeah!)" Buneary stood up. "(You can do it! You can _all_ do it! Come oooon, team!)" She danced around, pretending to wave pompoms to her left. "(Rah-rah!)" She pretended to wave them to her right. "(Rah-rah!)" She pretended to wave them up and down. "(Let's go!)" She jumped up and posed. "(Here we go, ohhhh!)"

She held the pose, even as she landed. Everyone stared.

Pikachu felt a slight shiver of second-hand embarrassment creep up his spine.

"(... What in blazes was that?)" Piplup asked.

Buneary blinked at him, looking perplexed. "(... Huh?)" she asked. "(I was cheering.)"

"(... No cheer _I_ know,)" Mamoswine muttered.

Pachirisu giggled. "(Yeah, why didn't you use one of Dawn's cheers?)" he asked.

Buneary blinked again. "(Well...)" she replied, "(I forgot what they were. Something about 'getting it done'?)" She beamed. "(I just said whatever came to mind in the moment!)"

Sudowoodo chuckled. "(Well, I thought it was cute!)" he said.

"(Yeah, yeah, cute!)" Happiny agreed.

Buneary turned her beaming smile on them. "(Oh, really?)" she asked. "(Thanks!)"

"(Well, it certainly pumped _me_ up!)" Buizel said. He clenched a fist. "(Now I wanna fight more than ever!)"

"(Yeah!)" Chimchar cheered, hopping up and down. "(Me too! I wanna beat Paul up right now!)"

Grotle laughed. "(You mean his team, right?)" he asked.

"(If you ask _me_,)" Staraptor said, "(the trainer could use some of that, too.)"

Everyone laughed.

Pikachu couldn't help the smile of wonder that spread across his face. "(Wow...)" he said. "(Seeing everyone so pumped up is getting _me_ pumped up, too! I can hardly wait for the battle tomorrow!)"

"(Oh!)" Buneary suddenly said, turning towards him. "(And, of course, you'll do amazing, too, Pikachu~! You'll knock 'em out of the park, probably with your hotness alone~!)"

His face burned as everyone's attention fell on him. They laughed again, this time at his expense.

Groaning, he turned away, looking anywhere else. As he did, he locked eyes with Croagunk. He blinked. The frog was staring, unblinkingly, at him, making him feel incredibly awkward.

After a moment of this, he realised something. Croagunk hadn't said a single thing throughout that entire conversation. He'd probably been sitting there in silence, just watching. Maybe listening...

Pikachu looked away, feeling more awkward and embarrassed than ever.

... Not that doing any of that was unusual for the frog, though, thinking about it. No one could ever tell what was going on in his mind. Whether he was paying attention to things or not. Things that weren't Brock-related, anyway...

Regardless, despite the inevitable embarrassment that Pikachu had suffered - since it always seemed to follow him wherever he went - he was impressed with how Buneary had handled things just now. She'd really succeeded in not only cheering everyone in the team up, but getting them excited to battle Paul's team tomorrow.

He smiled to himself. She was a pretty cool gal, it seemed.

* * *

When everyone had finally finished lunch and the bowls had been cleared away, Ash called on his team to do some training for their big battle tomorrow.

They all ran towards the open space, more ready than ever, it seemed. Even Pikachu was fired up. This would be the first time Ash's Sinnoh team had been in a full six-on-six battle, so it was no wonder they were excited. They wanted to show what they could do as a team!

Just as the group reached the open space, however, they were all lifted off their feet. They yelped as they were sucked straight into a floating vacuum in the sky. Pikachu landed inside with a thump, with a few of his teammates landing on top of him. Ow, ow, ow... What the heck had even happened?

Shaking off the pain, he looked around. It seemed that Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Croagunk, Sudowoodo and Happiny had landed nearby, so Ash's team weren't the only ones here.

He dragged himself out from the pile of groaning bodies, looking around some more. Curiously, there was no sign of Grotle, Mamoswine, the engineer's ampharos or the humans. He guessed they were probably too heavy to be picked up by the suction. It was then that he noticed a window on either side of the vacuum. As he stood up to investigate, he faintly heard cackling laughter above him.

He frowned. "(Team Rocket...)" he grumbled to himself.

Walking over to one of the windows, he smacked his fist against the glass. A few other pokémon gathered around him, trying the same thing, but it felt pretty solid.

"(This isn't working!)" Piplup cried in annoyance. He kicked the glass for good measure, then hopped around, holding his foot with a pained expression. "(Ow, ow, ow...!)"

"(Gosh, are you okay?)" Pachirisu asked.

Piplup hissed through his beak, then put his foot back down, proudly placing his flippers on his hips. "(... Only my pride is wounded.)"

Pachirisu giggled. "(You sure?)"

"(... Yes.)"

"(Tch,)" Buizel said. "(Alright, let's bust this thing open!)"

"(Yeah, we better had!)" Chimchar replied.

"(Ready and waiting!)" Staraptor said.

Before they could do anything, though, there was a sudden explosion, which blasted a hole straight through the vacuum. Everyone scrambled to take a look. They were really free, just like that?

Huh, wow. It normally took a lot longer than this to be free of one of Team Rocket's traps, but Pikachu wasn't complaining.

"Now's your chance!" Brock called out. "Jump down onto the grass!"

Pikachu looked down at the grass below, next to the rocky area they'd been eating in before. Turning to his friends with a determined frown, he saw them doing the same back.

"(Alright, smaller pokémon on the flying-types!)" he said.

Nodding, five of the pokémon scrambled towards the flying-types. Chimchar and Buneary climbed aboard Staraptor, while Pachirisu and Happiny climbed aboard Gliscor. Piplup looked between them in despair.

"(Wh... Where am I supposed to fit?!)" he cried.

Buneary turned around from where she was sitting. "(Oh!)" she cried. "(And Pikachu, too! There's no room on the flying-types!)"

Pikachu smiled at them both. "(It's okay,)" he replied. He looked directly at Piplup. "(Piplup, can you help me make sure everyone gets out safely?)"

Piplup's eyes widened. "(You want my help?)" he asked.

He nodded. "(Yeah!)"

After blinking at him, Piplup put his flippers back on his hips. "(Well, of course!)"

After the steamboat incident a while back - where the two of them had played babysitter to the rest of the team - Pikachu was confident that no one was better qualified. Sure, Piplup liked to tease him a lot, and he had a rather large ego, but still. He trusted him.

The two of them watched as Staraptor flew out of the hole, Buneary and Chimchar on his back. He was followed by Gliscor, who was carrying Pachirisu and Happiny. Then Buizel, Sudowoodo and Croagunk jumped out after them.

Once everyone else had safely left the vacuum, Pikachu and Piplup jumped out.

Behind them, however, was a loud noise. Pikachu turned in shock to see a net flying directly at them.

He, Piplup and Gliscor swivelled their bodies in mid-air to try and avoid it, but the sudden movement caused Happiny to fall off Gliscor's back.

"(Wheeee!)" she cried out happily as she fell.

Panicking, Pikachu swivelled back around to grab her. Piplup did the same thing, and the three of them got caught in the net.

"(Aww, man...)" Pikachu mumbled as the balloon began dragging them away.

He looked down below, to see the engineer's ampharos leap onto the top of the train, then leap up to grab the net. Team Rocket wiggled the net around to shake him off, but it didn't work.

"Do it, Ampharos!" the engineer called out. "Destroy their remote control!"

Pikachu wasn't even sure what happened next. He heard Ampharos fire off an attack, which was followed by a loud impact noise. Then there were distressed voices from below and screaming from above as he felt the balloon fly away at top speed.

He shrieked as it zigzagged across the sky, flying in a loop-de-loop, before plummeting downwards.

* * *

Pikachu shook off his dizziness. Wow, that had been a wild ride. Now Team Rocket's hot air balloon seemed to be caught in a tree, with the net dangling close to the ground. He glanced over at Piplup and Happiny, to see how they were faring. The former seemed to be a little dizzy, but no worse for wear. The former, though, looked like she was really enjoying herself.

With a smile of exasperation on his face, Pikachu sighed. Did nothing phase that girl?

"(Are you all okay?)" a voice asked.

Pikachu looked up at Ampharos, who was still clinging tightly to the outside of the net.

"(Yeah, I think so,)" he replied.

"(Let's go again!)" Happiny cried happily.

"(Let's not...)" Piplup groaned.

Ampharos smiled, looking relieved. "(Alright, cool,)" he replied. "(That's good. One sec and I'll get you out.)"

"(Okay,)" Pikachu replied. He glanced at Piplup. "(Piplup, can you help me make sure Happiny lands safely?)"

"(Of course!)" Piplup replied, grabbing hold of Happiny. Pikachu did the same on the other side.

"(Alright, here I go!)" Ampharos said, jumping down.

Powering up a Thunder Punch, he swung his arm at the net. It sliced straight through, dropping the three pokémon to the ground. Together, Pikachu and Piplup made sure that Happiny landed on her feet. She was still a baby, after all, and Brock would be very upset if he found out anything had happened to her.

... Like Misty's togepi before her, though, the girl seemed to have no fear of anything. Always a worrying thing for a baby.

He looked up at Ampharos. "(Thanks, Ampharos,)" he said.

"(Yeah, that was a pretty sweet Thunder Punch,)" Piplup added.

Ampharos nodded, looking pleased. "(Thanks!)" he replied. "(It took a lot of training to get it to cut things!)"

At that moment, a voice rang out from the branches of the tree behind them. They all turned around and looked up to see Team Rocket, still in the balloon basket and ranting at them for breaking free.

The pokémon glanced at each other. "(... I say we ditch 'em,)" Piplup said.

"(... Yeah, agreed,)" Pikachu replied.

"(Yay, ditch!)" Happiny said.

"(Heh,)" Ampharos said, "(yeah, let's go find our trainers.)"

"(Yeah,)" Pikachu replied.

They scurried away, down the path and into the forest. Behind them were the sounds of leaves rustling, loud screams and a crash. Pikachu sighed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Team Rocket had fallen out of the tree. Sometimes, he'd feel a twinge of second-hand embarrassment when it came to that trio, but not much. They were more annoying than anything. Ignoring the noise, the group continued onwards.

As they walked, Pikachu looked at the road ahead. It was long and winding, meaning that it might take a while to get back to the train.

He sighed again. Hopefully, not _too_ long, though...


	4. Making Tracks

Author's note: Heyooo!

... You know, the more I rewatch Sinnoh episodes for fic research, the more I realise how much I hate Sinnoh. XD So why do I write for it, you ask? Am I a glutton for punishment?

Maybe. Though it's mostly to turn mediocre episodes into more entertaining ones. Like the one I'm currently covering in these last couple of chapters, for example! It's about as unmemorable as they come, despite having an ampharos powering a train and the first appearance of Looker.

What can you do, though.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter Four****: Making Tracks**

The group of four pokémon continued walking in comfortable silence. Well, it was silent except for the large footfalls of Ampharos, who was clearly much heavier than the other three.

Pikachu watched as Piplup strode down the dirt path in front, while Happiny merrily skipped along next to him.

"(Oh,)" Ampharos suddenly said from next to Pikachu, "(sorry about earlier, by the way.)"

Pikachu looked up at him, straining his neck, as his fellow electric-type was much taller than him. "(Huh?)" he replied.

"(When I hit the balloon with my Signal Beam. I was aiming it at the remote control, but the, uh... talking meowth moved it out of the way.)" He pulled a confused face.

Pikachu thought back to the commotion, where he hadn't been able to see what had been going on.

"(Ah, that makes sense.)" He smiled. "(It's okay! You rescued us, and everyone's fine, so it's fine, right?)"

"(Well...)"

"(Yep!)" Piplup agreed from in front.

"(Yeppers~!)" Happiny agreed from next to him.

Ampharos beamed. "(Well, if you say so!)" he replied. He paused. "(Though... I really wanna know why that meowth was speaking English...)"

Pikachu shrugged. "(Eh, he's a weird one, alright...)" he said.

"(Dang right he is!)" Piplup agreed.

"(Weirdo~!)" Happiny agreed.

Ampharos chuckled in response. Afterwards, the group fell into another comfortable silence.

It lasted for a short while, until Pikachu heard Piplup humming something. He listened for a few moments, curious about what the song was.

When he figured it out, his whole body stiffened in horror.

"(How... do you know that song?)" he slowly asked.

"(Huh?)" Piplup asked. He turned around to face him as he walked. "(You know it, too?)"

"(Uh, yeah...)"

"(Well, I heard it on TV last night! You know, when you and Ash were training out in the cold, and Brock was making candy flakes. Me and Dawn watched a music channel for a bit.)" He flailed around as he walked. "(And I haven't been able to get this stupid song out of my head since then!)" With a yelp, he tripped and landed on his stomach.

Everyone stopped walking.

"(Are you okay?)" Ampharos asked.

After a moment, Piplup pushed himself back to his feet, his flippers on his hips. "(Perfectly fine.)" Something rolled out from his feathery cape and landed on the floor.

"(Hmm?)" Ampharos pointed at it. "(What's that?)"

"(Huh?)" Piplup looked down and yelped. "(My everstone!)" He scrambled to pick it up, then held it to his chest. He'd been very protective of it ever since he'd gotten it, back in Sandalstraw Town. "(I need this to stay a piplup.)"

"(Yay!)" Happiny said. She pulled out the oval stone that she'd kept in her pouch since the day she'd hatched, way back at Cycling Road. "(Stone buddies!)" She held it up.

"(Yep. Stone buddies.)" Piplup tapped his stone against hers, then they both put them away again.

Ampharos chuckled in amusement. "(I see,)" he replied.

"(So what's the song?)" Happiny asked Piplup. "(I wanna hear it!)"

Piplup smiled at her. "(You wanna hear it?)" he asked.

"(Yeah, yeah!)"

Pikachu was too horrified to speak. Please, god, no...

"(Okay then!)" Piplup paused. "(... Well, I only really remember one line. The rest is kinda blurry...)" He smacked a flipper against his chest. "(But I know this one line really well!)"

"(Okay~!)"

Piplup paused again. "(... Actually! It was a duet, thinking about it... so you should sing along, too!)"

Pikachu felt his face pale. Oh god, no!

"(Duet~! Okay~!)"

"(Alright, it goes like this. First, I sing the line, then you sing it after me.)"

"(Kay, kay!)"

Piplup cleared his throat, then paused for dramatic effect. Every second was like torture to Pikachu, though he knew it would only get worse from here.

"(I got _you_, babe~!)"

Happiny waved her tiny arms in joy. "(I got _you_, babe~!)"

"(I got _you_, babe~!)"

"(I got _you_, babe~!)"

Pikachu wanted to die.

... Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but still. It was agony.

Ampharos chuckled. "(Aww, how cute,)" he said.

Pikachu forced on a smile. No. No, it wasn't cute at all...

They continued walking, with Piplup and Happiny still in front. Still singing that stupid song.

In his view, they couldn't reach the train fast enough...

"(I got _you_, babe~!)" Piplup sang.

"(I got _you_, babe~!)" Happiny sang back.

Urgh. Now Pikachu was getting flashbacks of his previous trainer and the one other pokémon she'd had. Two people that he'd tried to put behind him.

"(I got _you_, babe~!)!

"(I got _you_, babe~!)"

He huffed through his nostrils. Refocusing his thoughts, he tried to drown it out by filling his head with a different song. Any song.

There were plenty that he _did_ like, after all. He just needed to think of them! Maybe he could even sing them over Piplup and Happiny. Or, even better, get the duo to sing along with him!

He strained his brain, trying hard to think over their singing.

... Argh. Nope. It was no use. His thoughts were filled with nothing but that song.

He huffed, half in exasperation, half in annoyance. There was no escaping that torture, was there?

He couldn't help remember, way back then, being told that he'd been a replacement for someone else. Some other pokémon that had - from what he'd heard - smashed his pokéball and run away. He couldn't say he blamed the guy, though. Not at all. He, too, had escaped that hell hole, though by different methods.

He shook his head. He really didn't want to think about all that, but it was proving difficult right now, what with the constant reminder nearby. Instead, he'd just have to try and tune it out. Maybe by focusing on something else, instead.

Hmm... well, there was still the matter of Buneary. Normally, he'd avoid the subject, but it was far preferable to listening to the song from hell.

Okay, well... she had a very blatant crush on him. Anybody with eyes could see that. Maybe even those _without_ eyes could see it. She was about as subtle as a brick to the face.

Even on the day they'd met, she'd flirted pretty heavily with him and he hadn't had a single clue how to deal with it. How does one deal with a girl they'd never met suddenly flirting with them?

Sure, she'd saved him from being run over by a motorbike, and he was still very grateful for that, but even then. Being told that he was 'soooo handsome and cool and hot and great' - coupled with her dancing around like she'd been on a sugar high, and mumbling giddily into her fluff - had been rather overwhelming.

Dawn had only made it worse by pointing it out, and Brock had made it _doubly_ worse by claiming it had been love when the two of them had barely interacted!

He'd been so confused, not knowing why a girl was crushing on him so out of the blue like that. It had never happened before, so why had it suddenly happened at the start of Ash's Sinnoh journey?

Since then, many months had passed, and much fun had been had at his expense over Buneary. Despite this, he liked to think that the two of them had become good friends. They hung out a lot, they played, they chatted, and she would always cheer him on in battles or praise him after a victory.

So the question he had to ask was: what did he think of her _now_?

Before he could think any more on this, Piplup and Happiny stopped in place in front of him, no longer singing. Oh, thank god. With a glance at one another, he and Ampharos walked over and stood by them.

Pikachu looked around him. There was a three-way fork in the road. Oh, great...

"(Uhhhh...)" he said, "(which way?)"

"(I... dunno,)" Ampharos replied.

"(Good thing _I_ do!)" Piplup said, smacking a flipper on his chest. He walked down the middle path. "(Follow me!)"

Happiny followed after him. "(Okay!)" she replied.

"(Wow, really?)" Pikachu asked in pleasant surprise.

He had to admit, he was impressed. How had Piplup managed to keep track of where the balloon had come from?

He did his best to ignore the singing that had started up again, as the duo walked further down the path and into a darker part of the forest. After a few moments, the song halted and they came running back at light speed, a squealing Piplup dragging a giggling Happiny behind him. Pikachu watched as they dashed past him and Ampharos, ducking down the right-hand path.

What the heck?

Surprised, Pikachu looked back at the forest, only to see a flock of five angry-looking fearow soaring towards them.

Oh good lord. He was getting slight flashbacks to the gigantic flock of spearow that Ash had tried to save him from, at the start of his pokémon journey.

Not wanting a similar incident, he charged up a Thunderbolt and fired it. Next to him, Ampharos seemed to have had similar thoughts, as he fired off a Signal Beam.

Somehow, the flock of fearow managed to dodge both attacks, still flying at them at full-throttle. Pikachu yelped. That hadn't slowed them down at all!

With no time to charge any more attacks, he and Ampharos turned tail and ran.

Turning down the right-hand path, where Piplup and Happiny had gone, they continued to run. They only stopped when they were faced with a cliff. Pikachu looked down it in horror at the rapids below.

Nope. He was a decent swimmer, but he wasn't going to be able to manage that. Piplup was a water-type, but even the penguin looked horrified by the raging waters.

Their only saving grace seemed to be a ledge that was jutting out of the rock, though it looked rather tricky to grab onto. They looked behind them. The fearow were still following them, looking just as angry as before. Well, it looked like they had no other choice.

The group looked at one another, understanding in everyone's eyes. The three oldest pokémon nodded. Then, with Pikachu and Piplup grabbing a paw of Happiny's each, they all jumped off the cliff.

As the five fearow soared overhead, Ampharos quickly did a somersault in mid-air, leaving his tail in plain view of Pikachu. He and Piplup quickly grabbed onto the red ball on the end, as Ampharos twisted around and grabbed onto the rocky ledge.

Ow... The strain of holding onto Ampharos with one paw, and holding up Happiny with the other, with absolutely nothing to stand on, was murder on his arms.

There was a tense moment of silence as they waited. Then Pikachu heard a sigh of relief from Ampharos.

"(Okay, they're gone,)" he said. "(Is everyone okay?)"

"(Y... Yeah...)" Pikachu replied. The strain was unbearable, but he hung on.

"(Argh, let us up, let us uuuup!)" Piplup cried out in pain.

"(Yay!)" Happiny cried in joy. "(Again, again!)"

Piplup flailed around in annoyance. "(No!)"

Pikachu yelped as the entire flimsy structure wobbled. "(P-Please don't do that!)" he cried. "(Ampharos, please help us up!)"

"(Okay, okay, hang on a sec,)" Ampharos replied.

* * *

Eventually, after much careful shuffling around, the group of four were safely on the ledge that circled around the side of the cliff. Fortunately, it was wide enough and sturdy enough to hold them all.

"(Phew...)" Pikachu said, relieved. "(Okay, now what do we do?)"

"(Hmm...)" Ampharos replied, looking down at the river. "(Oh, hey!)" He pointed at it. "(We can follow the river!)"

"(Huh?)" Piplup asked.

"(We left the train by a river, right?)" He pointed to the other side of the river, where the water was flowing from. "(It probably comes from here...)" He trailed his paw down the river. "(And flows down the hill where the train is.)"

Pikachu perked up. "(Oh yeah!)" he replied. "(Good thinking!)"

Piplup was silent for a moment, then put his flippers on his hips. "(... I knew that,)" he said.

"(Yay, follow the river!)" Happiny said.

Ampharos smiled. "(Yeah, let's follow the river,)" he replied.

Turning around, he started walking. The other three followed after him. After a few moments, Happiny rushed forwards to start playing with the red ball on the end of Ampharos' tail. Pikachu was about to stop her, but the warm smile that Ampharos sent her said that he didn't mind, so Pikachu didn't bother.

... Actually, speaking of the large electric-type, he had a question for him.

"(Hey, Ampharos?)" he asked.

"(Yes?)" Ampharos replied.

"(You have Thunderbolt, right? So why did you use Signal Beam against those fearow?)"

Ampharos chuckled. "(Oh, right. Well, the Thunderbolt's mostly for powering the train. I've... never actually used it in battle. That's what Signal Beam and Thunder Punch are for!)"

Pikachu gave an awkward chuckle back. He couldn't imagine not ever using his own Thunderbolt for battle. "(Ah. Is that so?)"

"(Do you like your job?)" Piplup asked.

"(Oh, yeah, I love it!)" Ampharos replied. "(Helping my trainer drive the train is...)" He blinked, then snorted to himself in amusement. "(Helping my trainer drive the train is pretty fun!)"

Pikachu chuckled. What a silly pun.

The group fell back into comfortable silence as they walked. Beside them, a bit lower down, the river was still raging. Happiny was still playing with Ampharos' tail, while Pikachu walked alongside Piplup.

... Well, since he had some time, maybe he should start thinking about Buneary again.

Okay, so... since he knew she liked him, and wanted to date him - as embarrassing as that was to admit to himself - he had to ask himself one simple question. A question he'd avoided thinking about for so long. That question was: did _he_ want to date _her_?

Well... he wasn't sure. If he did date her, then he just knew that everyone would laugh at him about it. Maybe the teasing would even increase. That was rather unappealing by itself.

... Still, though. She was a great friend and he did enjoy hanging out with her. So maybe? What would it even be like, dating her?

He tried to picture it. Holding paws, going on dates and... absolutely not saying sappy things to each other. That was _way_ too embarrassing, and would get a lot of laughs, he was sure. So no.

The rest of it sounded pleasant, though. Honestly, he'd been avoiding the idea of a girlfriend for a long time, but... would it be so bad? He'd been wondering that, as of late.

... Heck, maybe Piplup and Pachirisu would even tease him _less_, since there'd be less to fluster him over. One would hope, anyway.

... _Did_ he want to date Buneary, though? After all, he wasn't even sure if he felt that way about her or not, so...

Argh, he was running himself in circles. Unless he wanted to bury his head in the sand again, he needed to think about this seriously.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd be able to figure it out by the time he got back to the train.


	5. Achieving Results

Author's note: Heyo!

... Hmm. Not a whole lot to say this time, soooo... how about this?

We've all seen a little bit of the anime, right? We all know that Pikachu is incredibly awkward around Buneary. The question is... why? Why, when a free girlfriend is being offered to him on a silver platter, does he not take it?

So I present to you... five ways you can interpret Pikachu's feelings, for all your fic-writing needs!

1) He's too dumb to figure it out (This one seems to be a favourite among writers)

2) He finds the topic too awkward, confusing or embarrassing to broach (Like in this fic)

3) He has other priorities that he wants to focus on (Such as helping Ash with his dream)

4) He doesn't feel the same way (Maybe he finds her creepy, or he likes someone else)

5) He doesn't want to date in general (For whatever reason that may even be traumatic)

... These are just the ones I could come up with, but they're a good starting point! I wanna do all I can to help people write more Pika/Bun, so, if you're struggling, feel free to use one of these!

... If you dislike the anime, however (and I wouldn't blame you, if you did), then another option is to write an AU! One with different scenarios, and maybe even different characters! (Which would still be a pikachu and a buneary, obviously, or it wouldn't be a Pika/Bun fic.)

I have a couple of these lined up, myself! ... But that's a story for another day.

Well, with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the chapter! And happy writing to you all!

* * *

**Chapter Five****: Achieving Results**

The group continued to walk along the side of the cliff. They'd travelled far enough now that the river nearby had slowed to a steady stream. That was good. Pikachu still had no idea how far away from the train they currently were, but it was probably still a way away yet.

On their travels, they came across a large boulder blocking the way. They paused, staring at it. There was absolutely no getting around it, so they had to move it out of the way. It was either that or double back, after all the walking they'd done.

First, Pikachu tried to push it. He pushed and pushed with all of his might, but it didn't budge. Not even a little bit. Next, Ampharos tried hitting it with a barrage of Thunder Punches, one after the other. Again, it didn't budge.

Piplup confidently strode over to it and used Bubble Beam. Nothing. Frustrated, the penguin followed up with a Whirlpool. Still nothing. Even more frustrated, he ran over and desperately tried to push it. He moved into several different positions, trying to find the best weight distribution, but the boulder refused to move.

It was starting to look hopeless. Maybe they really _would_ have to double back, after all. Though Pikachu supposed they could swim it there now, since this side of the river was much calmer than the one they'd almost fallen into earlier. He was just about to suggest possibly swimming downstream when Happiny walked forwards.

He immediately perked up. Of course! Happiny! She was super strong! Far stronger than any pokémon he'd ever seen before! He watched as, using only one paw, she lifted up the boulder with ease, with Piplup still attached to it. The penguin squealed when his feet left the ground.

Pikachu would never fail to be impressed at how strong that baby was. He'd met many baby pokémon in his life, but only one had been able to lift boulders one-handed.

Giggling, she spun it around on her paw, Piplup screaming as he spun with it. Eventually, he fell off and landed with a thud in front of Pikachu. Then Happiny took the boulder in both paws and threw it high into the air. The group watched as it seemed to fly into the sun, before plummeting back down and landing in the river with a gigantic splash.

... Well. That had been an adventure.

* * *

Pikachu trudged along beside Ampharos, with Piplup and Happiny in front. He heaved a sigh to himself. After their boulder adventure, the duo were back to singing that stupid song that he hated so much. He was thankful that Piplup didn't know any more than one line, but still. He just hoped the penguin didn't hear of the other songs he hated...

Regardless, their singing meant it was time to focus on Buneary again. After all, anything was better than listening to _that_.

Okay, so... since he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about her, perhaps he should start thinking about her good points.

Well... she was always complimenting him. Not a day went by where she didn't have something good to say about him. Whether it was his acrobatics, his battle skills or even his looks.

At the same time, those compliments had caused some very embarrassing moments. Like the time they'd been playing hide-and-seek and she'd found him because she'd 'recognise that gorgeous yellow fur anywhere'.

... Saying that, they'd certainly played a lot together, and chatted a lot together. She was very friendly and social. Everyone in the group liked her.

At the same time, it was that friendliness and social skill that made her so open with her feelings.

... Not that it was a bad thing, he supposed. You'd never hear a lie come out of Buneary's mouth. Everything she said was always in complete earnestness and sincerity. Did she even know _how_ to lie?

Okay, no, she wasn't the smartest cookie, but she wasn't completely stupid, either. She just wore her heart on her sleeve, as the humans might say.

In fact, one could say that was part of her charm, too. The fact that she was just a little bit slow on the uptake. It made her very gullible and a very easy target for people like Ambipom, Piplup and Pachirisu, but it was kind of... cute, in a way?

He felt his face heat up from embarrassment. He was just glad that Piplup was in front and distracted, otherwise the penguin might have started prodding for information. He might have even smirked and asked if it was about Buneary, just to embarrass him.

Regardless, it was true. The fact that she never seemed to know she was being tricked meant that she had a heart purer than most. She trusted people's word so much that it genuinely confused her to hear they'd been lying. Much like with the Poké Chic incident a few days ago.

Then there was the cheering from earlier. Ash's team had been feeling apprehensive about their upcoming battle with Paul and she'd cheered them up. She'd cheered them on. Not just _him_, but _all_ of them. All six of them. Heck, she'd even seemed to forget about him at first, choosing instead to help his teammates feel better.

There was her earnestness and sincerity shining through again. He couldn't help but smile to himself. She really _was_ so nice and sweet and cute and...

He paused, his face growing even hotter. Oh god, he really didn't want Piplup to turn around right now...

* * *

Much later, the group of four had climbed down from the cliffside, and were now walking along the riverbank. Piplup was in front and looking tired. Happiny was beside him, singing a tuneless song to herself. Pikachu was behind them, relieved that they weren't singing that song he hated anymore. Beside him, Ampharos remarked that it shouldn't take _too_ much longer to get to the train.

Well, that was good. Though Pikachu had spent the entire time thinking about Buneary. In doing so, he'd come to realise there were other things to like about her, too. Such as the sheer amount of energy she gave off. Not literally, obviously, but figuratively. It was what had managed to pump up both him and his teammates earlier. The sheer positive energy that she always put a hundred percent into.

It was hard to stay negative around it.

... That and her affectionate gestures, like hugging and nuzzling and whatnot could really boost a guy's ego.

So... with all that said, she'd make a pretty good girlfriend for someone, wouldn't she?

"(You okay there, Piplup?)" Ampharos asked.

Piplup turned around to glare at him. "(Of course I am!)" he replied, though he seemed to be huffing in exhaustion from all the walking. "(This is n... nothing!)" He stopped in place, and they all stopped with him. "(I can take way more than-)" Suddenly, the floor beneath their feet rumbled. "(... This?)"

"(Wha-?)" Pikachu asked, before the floor caved in.

They all screeched as they tumbled downwards. Crashing into a pile at the bottom of a hole, they all groaned in pain. Except for Happiny, who'd safely landed on top of Ampharos.

Then Pikachu heard them. The tiresome trio known as Team Rocket. Great. Right when they were so close to the train, too...

Leaping to their feet, Pikachu, Piplup and Ampharos charged up attacks to deal with them, but a bazooka shot from Meowth had them trapped in a sack.

They struggled against the sack as it was lifted from the hole. Jeez, this trio sure knew how to make strong nets and sacks. They were always so difficult to break out of.

They continued to struggle as Team Rocket gloated to themselves outside, when something slammed into the sack, tearing it open and sending it flying. Panicking, Pikachu grabbed hold of Happiny to keep her safe. Piplup seemed to have the same idea, as he grabbed her other side. When the sack landed on the grass, Ampharos pushed it open with his head.

Pikachu looked outside, confused. What had just happened? Had they been saved?

Sensing a presence, he looked off to the side. Then his heart leapt into his throat.

Sure, he saw Sudowoodo waving to him. Sure, he saw Ash, Dawn and Brock running towards him. The one thing he saw most of all, though, was her.

She was waving at him. "(Heeey!)" she called out. "(You guys alright?)"

He heard Sudowoodo say something, too, but he was too distracted. His face lit up in joy. Heat rose to his cheeks. He'd never felt so happy to see her before.

She looked... lovely.

He froze.

... Oh. Oh god. He... really liked her, didn't he?

He tried to calm the raging heat in his cheeks. Oh. Wow. This was sudden. He didn't know what to do about this. Right now was a bad time, though! Why did it have to be now, of all times, that he realised this?! Team Rocket were here, and Ash, Dawn and Brock were here, so it was just really bad timing!

Okay. He'd just have to keep his cool for now, pretend that nothing was wrong and maybe... deal with it later.

First, he had to go back to his trainer, and help get rid of Team Rocket. Yeah. That sounded good.

"(H-Help me carry Happiny, Piplup,)" he said.

"(Huh?)" Piplup replied. "(Oh, sure!)"

Together, they lifted her up and carried her over to their trainers. Admittedly, it was a little hard to look Buneary in the eyes after his realisation, so he focused on Ash, instead...

* * *

Later, after dealing with Team Rocket, the group had finally made it back on the train. With both the conductor and Looker back from wherever they'd been, the train was back on track to its destination.

Once again sitting next to Brock, Pikachu glanced out of the window at the setting sun. Jeez. It had taken them rather a long time to get back, hadn't it? His head had been in the clouds for so long that he hadn't even noticed.

... And now he knew how he felt about Buneary. It was a little overwhelming. Even now, he was still trying to process it.

"Wow, it's getting dark out..." Dawn said from the seat opposite.

Next to the window, Ash glanced out at the sunset. "Yeah, you're right..." he replied. "Will we even get to Lake Acuity in time?"

"I doubt it, Ash," Brock said. "Thanks to that red light, the train's way off schedule." He pulled out a small booklet and began to flip through it, until he stopped on a page. "First, we have to get off at a small town _before_ Lake Acuity... then walk uphill to get to it. By the time we get there, the pokémon centre will have closed." He closed the booklet. "So it's probably best we stay at the _other_ pokémon centre and go tomorrow."

Ash slumped his shoulders, heaving a sigh. "Guess you're right..."

"No need to worry, though!" Dawn said. "This just means we'll get to see Lake Acuity in the daytime!" She winked. "And I'm sure it'll look all the more beautiful!"

Ash perked up. "Yeah, I guess so!" He pumped a fist. "We can enjoy the view, before I pound Paul's team into the ground, and finally get a victory over him! Right, Pikachu?"

Pikachu jolted in surprise at being addressed. "(Oh! Y-Yeah!)" he replied, pumping a fist.

... Honestly, he really wanted more time to process his feelings, but maybe it was better for him to focus on the battle for the time being. He could maybe figure out what to do afterwards. Maybe. Possibly.

Urgh, he was burying his head in the sand again, wasn't he?

No, no! He just needed to focus one hundred percent on this battle, or he'd let the team down! Especially since this was their first six-on-six battle against Paul and they'd never once won against him, aside from in the pokéringer. He needed to get in the zone and worry about Buneary later. Yeah!

... Then, and only then, he'd think about how to talk to her. Then he'd finally be able to answer her question, after so long.

She'd waited a long time, after all. So long that he was surprised she was still interested in him, thinking about it. She truly was an angel, being so patient with the likes of him and his indecisiveness.

Yeah. That settled it. His priority right now was to beat Paul. He'd worry about the rest later.

Nodding to himself, he glanced around the train. Only then did he notice that the three people who'd been sitting adjacent to them before were no longer there.

Huh. Where had they gone? Had they gotten off the train and not come back?

What had they looked like again? One seemed to be a woman, one seemed to be a man and one seemed to be a... dwarf?

... Actually, thinking about it, Team Rocket had attacked them when the train had stopped. So maybe it'd actually been Jessie, James and Meowth.

... Well, that certainly explained the hats, trench coats, sunglasses and face masks.

* * *

After waving goodbye to the conductor, the engineer, Ampharos and Looker, the group spent the night in a pokémon centre. With Brock's flirting, Croagunk's punishing Poison Jab and healing the pokémon out of the way, everyone settled down for dinner. They had to eat outside, of course, since there were so many of them and Mamoswine took up far too much space.

Pikachu was currently eating his pellets right beside the table where Ash was sitting. Next to him was Buneary. He really didn't mind her sitting there - not at all - but it was rather hard to look her in the eye after his recent realisation.

"(Think Brock'll give me some of those candy flakes, if I beg?)" Buneary asked.

"(Huh?)" he replied, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "(Oh, uh, maybe.)"

"(Hmm, though I don't think there was enough left for everyone else...)" There was a pause. "(Well, the next time he makes some, _then_ I'll beg!)"

He smiled to himself at her thoughtfulness. She could have just gotten some for herself, but was willing to wait, so that everybody could share them...

"Bet you're excited for tomorrow, Ash," Dawn said.

"You know it!" Ash replied. "I've got a strategy all figured out, and we'll beat Paul for sure this time!"

"Strategy, huh?" Brock asked in amusement. "That's never really been your strong point, though, Ash."

"Well, yeah, I know, but-" Something suddenly went clunk. "Argh!"

Before Pikachu knew what was going on, Buneary fired an Ice Beam above his head. He blinked. He blinked again, then looked up.

There was a puddle of frozen orange juice dangling over the edge of the table, the end of which was hovering just above him.

Ash scrambled to look over the table. "Whoa," he said, looking startled. He smiled awkwardly. "Sorry about that, buddy. You okay?"

"(Uh... yeah,)" Pikachu replied, still a bit shocked and confused.

"I knocked over my orange juice, but it seems Buneary had your back." He looked over at Buneary. "Thanks, Buneary!"

"(No problem!)" Buneary replied.

Pikachu looked directly at her, impressed at her lightning reflexes, but also touched that she'd do that for him. "(Yeah, thanks...)" he said.

She beamed. "(No problem! Again!)" She winked at him, making his face go warm. "(Can't have your lovely fur getting all sticky and dirty!)"

Piplup chuckled nearby. "(Who knows, maybe it would have turned him orange,)" he said. "(What do you think, wouldn't he look good in orange?)"

"(Yeah, he totally would!)" Pachirisu replied from next to the penguin. "(Or pink? Maybe purple!)"

Pikachu looked at them to see the duo smirking and leaning in Buneary's direction. His heart sank. Oh no. He knew what they were doing. He knew what they were expecting her to say.

Something along the lines of 'He's so hot, he'd look great in _any_ colour!'

He prepared himself for the inevitable embarrassment.

"(No way!)" Buneary replied. "(Yellow looks best on him!)"

In surprise, Pikachu turned to her with wide eyes. "(... You think so?)" he asked.

She beamed at him again. "(Yeah, definitely!)" She reached out and ran a paw down his arm. "(You're perfect as you are!)"

... Wow. He was so flattered. So touched. His face was burning, and Piplup and Pachirisu were cracking up laughing - making him want to crawl into a hole from embarrassment - but he was happy. His heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest in joy.

... Still, he had a job to focus on. They had to beat Paul tomorrow, no matter what. It was what they'd been training for. What they'd been striving towards. They were going to win, not just for Ash, but for themselves, too. To prove that they could. To prove that Paul's ruthless methods weren't the right ones, and that with friendship you could overcome anything.

Yeah. Yeah. He'd deal with that first. If he did anything else, then it might spoil their chances tomorrow, and he didn't want that. He had to focus solely on that, for now. Thinking too much about Buneary and what answer he planned to give her would only distract him, and possibly lose him the fight.

No, he had to focus. At least until they won the battle. After that, well... he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.


	6. Getting Ready

Author's note: ...

Star date: 24-69-53

Day 316 of the lockdown. Intergalactic supply ships are in high demand. Requests have been made to install more powerful warp drives, to supply to even further reaches of space, though one does wonder how long this will last...

...

Heyo! Good to see you all!

Hope you're doing well in lockdown! In the meantime, here's a chapter for you to read! Hope you enjoy it!

... Also, for anyone who's asking: no, I won't be writing the battle. It's not actually all that important to the story, though I'll definitely be having the characters talk about it afterwards!

... I just hope nobody was hyped up to read it, or anything. XD Heh, whoops. Sorryyyy.

... Anyway!

**Best mistake of the day**: 'He glanced at Pikachu. "You hate, don't you, buddy?"'

(Pikachu is a big ol' bundle of hate. Next, he'll be wearing an eye patch and swearing vengeance on the one who betrayed him. Fun times.)

* * *

**Chapter Six****: Getting Ready**

After spending the night at the pokémon centre, the group ate breakfast and headed on their way. The journey to Lake Acuity was a peaceful one, with one break taken for lunch and training, before they set off again. Eventually, they reached their destination.

Atop Ash's shoulder, Pikachu looked out at the beautiful view in awe. A huge lake, shimmering under the afternoon sun, and surrounded by trees and mountains. It was picturesque, almost like a painting. The weather was nice and warm, too. Quite a contrast to Snowpoint City.

"Finally!" Ash said. "Lake Acuity!" He stared at it in awe. "Wow..."

"(Yeah, wow...)" Pikachu agreed.

"It's so pretty!" Dawn said.

"Yeah, it really is," Brock replied.

The group shared a pleasant moment of silence, as they enjoyed the view together.

As he stared out across the lake, the light breeze brushing against his fur, Pikachu couldn't help but wonder if Buneary would like the view...

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to think about that. Sure, he'd only just discovered his feelings yesterday, but he really needed to focus on the battle today. So that was exactly what he was going to do. He'd worry about the other stuff later.

"Oh!" Dawn suddenly said, startling him slightly. "You know, I just remembered! There's supposed to be a legendary pokémon at _Lake Acuity_ as well!"

"That's right!" Brock replied just as enthusiastically. "Uxie, yeah!"

Ah, yes, Pikachu remembered. The story told by Zoey and May, and confirmed by Professor Rowan. The one about the three lake guardians. Pikachu and Ash had already seen one of them at Lake Valor, and Piplup and Dawn had apparently seen one at Lake Verity.

Pikachu smiled to himself. It was kind of cool, imagining that a legendary might watch over his battle with Paul's pokémon. Exciting, even!

... Maybe Buneary would _also_ be listening to the battle, inside her pokéball...

He shook his head again. Now was the time to focus. Think of the battle, and nothing else!

Ash turned to him, a determined smile on his face. "Let's get over there!" he said enthusiastically. "If I know Paul, he's already waiting!"

Pikachu returned the determined smile. "(Yeah, let's go!)" he replied.

First, however, they had to make a pit stop at the pokémon centre, to make sure the team was all healed up before the battle. Then they'd find Paul and get this show on the road!

* * *

Pikachu stared around the pokémon centre, shocked and intrigued. There was so much yellow! Every wall in the reception area was covered in bright yellow posters.

"Whoa," Ash muttered, jolting in surprise. "It's so... _yellow_. We walk into a custard factory?"

"Hardy har, Ash," Dawn replied. "... You're right, though. It's..." She paused. "Actually, isn't it the same colour as-?"

"Pikachu?"

Pikachu glanced at Ash from his shoulder. "(Huh?)" he asked. "(Yeah?)"

Ash was staring straight ahead, not responding. After a moment, he slowly approached one of the posters and peered closely at it. It was only then that Pikachu noticed something. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, it is!" Ash cried out. "It's covered in pikachu!"

"Oh, you're right!" Dawn replied from behind them.

Looking around the room, Pikachu took a closer look at the posters. From what he could see, they were all covered in pictures of pikachu.

"It's saying there's a festival tomorrow. A pikachu festival!" Ash turned his beaming face towards Pikachu. "Isn't that cool, buddy?"

"(Uh, yeah!)" he replied, still surprised. He smiled back. A pikachu festival was certainly strange, but pretty cool, too. "(It is!)"

"A pikachu festival?" Brock asked.

"(Wow...)" Piplup said. "(Someone must reeeaaally love pikachu to hold a festival for them...)" He paused a moment. "(I think they should hold a piplup festival, instead!)"

Heh. Of course he'd say that.

"I've heard about this, actually..." Brock continued, "from the Snowpoint City Nurse Joy. When I was making candy flakes, she told me about it."

"... Wait..." Dawn said, "a pikachu festival?" After a moment, she gasped. "Oh! I saw a commercial for that on TV! At the Snowpoint City pokémon centre!"

"(Oh yeah!)" Piplup said. "(I remember that!)"

Ash turned to them. "Huh?" he asked, a pout in his voice. "You guys knew? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Brock chuckled. "Well, the Nurse Joy at Snowpoint said she couldn't remember the date of the festival..." he replied, "and, with you so focused on your battle with Paul, I just assumed we'd miss it."

"Is that so...?" Ash looked at Dawn. "And you, Dawn?"

"Well, I only really saw the tail end of the commercial," she replied. "I had no idea it was at Lake Acuity! And... tomorrow?" Her eyes sparkled. "Talk about good luck!"

"Heh, guess so!" Ash chuckled. "I always seem to show up at the right place and time, huh?"

Dawn giggled. "No kidding! I have no idea how you do it."

"It's pretty much _always_ been the case, though," Brock added with a smile.

"Heh," Ash replied. "Just lucky, I guess." He pumped a fist. "Either way, it's perfect! I'll beat Paul, and then go to the festival to celebrate!"

"Oh, are you talking about the festival?" Nurse Joy's voice asked. They all turned around to see her at her counter, a chansey by her side. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just in the back."

Brock immediately rushed forward, planting his hands on the desk. "Now that _you're_ back, there's a festival in my heart!" he cried. He made a grand gesture. "It sings, it dances, it-" Out of nowhere, he was hit with a double whammy. Croagunk using Poison Jab, and Chansey using Pound. He crumpled to the ground. "Cries out in paiiiin!"

Pikachu's eyes widened. Yeesh. Talk about overkill...

"Oh my, sorry!" Nurse Joy smiled sheepishly again. "Chansey tends to be aggressive toward... anyone who approaches me the way my ex used to..." She paused, looking at Croagunk. "... And so does this croagunk, I suppose?"

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, this happens a lot!" she replied.

Ash sighed in amusement. "No kidding..." he said.

"Anyway! This festival sounds really fun! Right, Piplup?"

"(Well, yeah,)" Piplup replied, "(though I still think a piplup festival would be _more_ fun.)"

"Is it really a festival for pikachu?"

Nurse Joy nodded. "Yes, it is," she replied. She beamed. "And it'll be a really great source of commerce, too!"

"Com... commerce?" Ash asked, sounding confused.

"Yes. Business, basically. A way to make money. The funds from the festival are going to this pokémon centre, you see." She looked down. "... And it certainly needs it." She heaved a sigh. "... I get so jealous of the Nurse Joy from Lake Valor, sometimes."

Brock sprung up from the ground, startling everybody. "Why is that?" he asked in concern.

Pikachu sighed. He should really be used to this by now...

Nurse Joy took a calming breath. "... Well, because of the large amount of tourist attractions, Lake Valor makes a lot of money. They even held the Wallace Cup there this year."

"Oh yeah!" Dawn replied. "I competed in that!"

"(_And_ won a ribbon!)" Piplup proclaimed proudly.

"Right," Nurse Joy replied. "Lake Acuity, though, only has the lake and... pretty much nothing else. It gets hardly any tourists, and it's pretty empty for most of the year."

"That's a real shame..." Ash replied sadly.

"(Yeah, it's a really pretty lake,)" Pikachu agreed.

Nurse Joy smiled. "Yes, but this festival came as a great boon!" she replied. "With the funding, I was thinking about buying another state-of-the-art healing machine. I have one already, but it only heals six pokémon at a time... and only if the injuries aren't too serious... so another one would be greatly appreciated!"

"Makes sense," Brock said.

"(You better not flirt with her again, or I will end you...)" Chansey mumbled.

"(Not before I end him first,)" Croagunk replied calmly.

Jeez. Pikachu couldn't help but find those two a bit creepy...

"Oh!" Ash suddenly said. "Speaking of healing... could you heal up my pokémon, Nurse Joy? I've got a big battle coming up today!"

"Oh, of course," Nurse Joy replied.

"Thanks!" Rummaging around, he started pulling his pokéballs off his belt.

Nurse Joy slid a specialised tray with six indents across the counter, and Ash began placing his pokéballs in the indents. Once all five of them had been slotted in, Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder and landed on the tray. He was just about to sit down when he heard Nurse Joy's voice.

"Um... does your pikachu have a pokéball, too?"

"... Huh?" Ash asked. "Well, yeah, but he hates it. Don't you, buddy?"

"(Well, hate's a strong word, but...)" Pikachu replied. He nodded. "(No, I don't like it.)"

"Oh..." Nurse Joy suddenly looked awkward. "It's just that... the healing machine only works on pokémon who are... _inside_ their pokéballs."

Pikachu's eyes widened. "(... Huh?)"

"Huh?!" Ash cried.

"It's... not a perfect design," Nurse Joy admitted, "but it's very efficient."

"But..."

Pikachu glanced back and forth between Ash and Nurse Joy. They were both looking down at him with concerned gazes.

... He wasn't getting out of this easily, was he?

Okay, well... one option was to outright refuse. Though that would mean being healed the less efficient way, which would probably be much slower. Not to mention, keep Ash from battling Paul for longer.

It might even inconvenience Nurse Joy, as Pikachu would be taking up space and resources that other pokémon might be in more desperate need of.

At the same time, she'd said herself that Lake Acuity got barely any visitors, so maybe he could get away with it?

Argh, now he was just being selfish, wasn't he?

... The other option was to bite the bullet and get inside his pokéball. After all, it wouldn't be for long, right? At least, that was what it sounded like. A quick in-and-out job. Painless, right?

... Well, weighing the pros and cons, it would probably be a lot less hassle to do the latter, wouldn't it? As much as he disliked the idea.

After a few moments of contemplation, he took a shuddering breath as he turned to Ash. "(Okay. Fine,)" he replied. "(I'll... get in it.)" He nodded.

"You'll do it?" Ash asked in surprise.

Pikachu nodded again. "(Yeah. I won't like it, but I'll do it.)"

"Well... if you're sure, buddy." Pulling off his backpack, Ash unzipped it and began to rummage around inside it. After a moment, he pulled something out. A lone pokéball with a lightning bolt on it.

It had been a long time since Pikachu had seen that thing.

"Last call, buddy," Ash said, holding it out. "You going in?"

Pikachu stared at the pokéball for a moment. He had very mixed feelings about this, he wouldn't lie. Mostly falling on the negative side. But it would be mostly painless, right? Right? Plus, it was more convenient all around for him to do this, so he supposed he had no choice, really.

He sighed and nodded. "(Yep, I am,)" he replied.

"Well, okay then. Pikachu, return!"

He watched the beam of red light shoot from the button of the pokéball, straight in his direction. The urge to dodge it was strong, but he held firm. Before long, he felt his entire body being absorbed into the light, and pulled away from the counter.

* * *

Well, here Pikachu was. Floating in the vast digital space that was his pokéball. It had been a long time since he'd been in here.

... One couldn't deny that it was comfortable. Pokéballs were specially designed with the pokémon's comfort in mind, after all. They weren't cramped, and the way the pokémon's molecules floated around in a bundle created an odd sense of zen. It was calming.

But all of that had nothing to do with why he disliked them.

Yeah, being in here was making him remember. The lack of freedom. The impending doom that was to come. He would sit in this void and wait for the horrible fate that awaited him outside this very pokéball...

He shivered. Those days had been horrible.

He hadn't been able to trust humans after that. Not Professor Oak, and certainly not Ash. That, of course, had changed after the spearow incident. Not only had the boy protected him from harm, he'd offered him freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom from his pokéball, and even freedom to leave, if he'd wished.

Now, though, several years later, here he was. Back in his pokéball again. All because the Lake Acuity Nurse Joy had to buy the latest technology. He sighed to himself.

Ah well. He didn't hold it against any of his friends for liking pokéballs. Heck, he knew he was a rare case for _not_ liking them.

Even Buneary liked them, didn't she? Well, he didn't suppose he could blame her. She probably didn't have any bad memories associated with them.

He pictured her warm, happy smile - her cheerful, bubbly personality - and felt himself smile. At least, the equivalent to it, while he was in this state of existence.

... Dang it. He was doing it again.

Fine. After the battle, he'd figure something out. Though, like he'd told himself before, the battle came first.

He wanted to win. For his sake, for Ash's sake, and for the sake of the entire team. If he got distracted at any point - especially by thoughts of Buneary - he was likely to falter. So he would make sure not to!

Together, they would battle Paul, and they would win! Then they would go to the pikachu festival tomorrow and celebrate their victory!

... First, though, he hoped this healing session wouldn't take too long. He really wanted to get out of this pokéball as soon as possible...


	7. Feeling Pain

Author's note: Heyo!

... Hmm. I can't really think of anything to say here, so...

Read many fics, give lots of lovely reviews, and make people feel loved during this outbreak of pokérus!

... Though don't catch this strain, because it most certainly won't boost your EVs. XP

Also, I hope you like the chapter!

**Best mistakes of the day**:

#1 'Sure, they'd done a poot'

(Ash's team are very gassy, apparently. Need to lay off those beans.)

#2 'her eyes would have glowered with adoration'

(How does one 'glower' with adoration, you ask? One word: tsundere.)

* * *

**Chapter Seven****: Feeling Pain**

As the sun set that day, the battle now over, Pikachu lay wearily in Ash's arms, while the boy hurried him back to the pokémon centre. The mouse's body ached all over. His fur was soaking wet from being knocked into the lake by Ursaring's Hammer Arm, but he didn't have the strength to shake it dry. His skin burned from the contact with Magmortar's Flame Body, but, thankfully, the cold lake water had soothed it slightly. Not much, but a little. He hissed through his teeth as another stab of pain hit him.

He'd tried to walk back to the pokémon centre by himself earlier, but he'd collapsed again after only a few steps.

The battle with Paul's team had been a train wreck.

The whole team had been so pumped up. So ready. They'd really thought they'd been prepared this time. They'd really thought they'd win. However, it seemed that Paul had always been one step ahead of them. No, more like _three_ steps ahead.

They'd been brutally slaughtered, two wins to six. Just what had gone wrong? Why had Paul's strategies been so perfect? Why had he been able to read their movements so well, and counter them so effectively?

Why had they been defeated so easily, after all the training they'd done?

Pikachu himself had only battled twice, before being overwhelmed. _Twice_. Unlike Chimchar, who'd battled... four times, was it?

... Well, he was a monferno now, wasn't he? He'd evolved, become part fighting-type, learned Mach Punch and... had made Pikachu feel rather inferior, in terms of battle skill.

The monkey had even taken down Ursaring, the one who'd knocked out _three_ members of Ash's team. Not to mention, he'd been paralysed by Electabuzz's Thunder, yet had powered through it and kept on fighting.

He'd done really well for himself. Unlike Pikachu...

He felt his ears droop in shame.

* * *

Standing on the floor of the back room, Pikachu watched as Nurse Joy opened up all of his teammates' pokéballs. She'd wanted to check them all over personally, before putting any of them in the healing machine nearby, just in case there were any problems.

As the other pokémon materialised on the floor next to him, he cringed at the state of them. What he saw was not a pretty sight. All five of them were coated in bruises, groaning and massaging their aching muscles.

Buizel wobbled on the spot, looking very sickly. Clearly, the poison from Magmortar's Smog was affecting him rather badly. Monferno's muscles looked stiff, probably locking up again from the paralysis.

"Oh my!" Nurse Joy cried in shock. She knelt down, checking them over one by one. "Hmm..." She inspected Pikachu, being careful not to touch his cheek too roughly. "Hmm... alright." She stood up again. "One is poisoned, one is burned and one is paralysed. We need to find the antidote, the burn heal and the paralyse heal quickly." She turned to Chansey, who was standing in the doorway. "Chansey, can you help me look for them?"

"(Of course!)" Chansey replied happily.

Nurse Joy gave the six injured pokémon a reassuring smile. "Stay right here and I'll be right back with your medicine. Okay?"

They all groaned out something resembling a reply. Nodding, she and Chansey left the room.

"(... Heh,)" Grotle said with a tired smile, "(guess the battle didn't go so well, huh?)"

Everyone looked over at him, and Pikachu could see a variety of expressions on their faces. Staraptor was frowning, Buizel looked exasperated, Monferno seemed pained, and Gliscor looked like he was about to burst into tears. Pikachu himself felt ashamed of his performance.

Grotle winced slightly at their reactions. "(Yeah...)" He heaved a sigh. "(... Man, I wish I coulda beaten Honchkrow this time. If I'd been a torterra, maybe I'd have stood a better chance?)"

Staraptor's frown deepened.

"(Torterra...)" Gliscor repeated, sniffling. "(He took me out so easy, and I had a type-advantage!)" Tears poured from his eyes. "(I had a type-advantaaaage!)"

"(It sucks...)" Buizel grunted, still looking woozy. "(It sucks _so_ hard.)"

"(Yeah...)" Pikachu mumbled sadly. "(It... really does.)"

"(Yeah...)" Monferno agreed, wincing from his stiff muscles.

Grotle nodded. "(We tried our best, but it just... wasn't in the cards this time,)" he said.

Buizel huffed. "(Doesn't help that Ash changed his strategy before the... battle,)" he said, trying his best to stand up straight.

Staraptor said nothing, still frowning deeply.

"(Yeah,)" Gliscor replied, sniffling, "(he... he normally follows his instinct, right? Throws stuff at the wall and sees what sticks?)"

"(Yeah,)" Pikachu replied. He gave a heavy sigh. "(And it usually works out alright...)"

Monferno slumped his shoulders as best he could. "(I'm sorry, guys...)" he said. "(S-Sorry I didn't... do better.)"

Staraptor suddenly huffed angrily, getting everyone's attention. "(What the heck are _you_ apologising for?)" he snapped. "(You and I did the best out of everyone here!)" He turned his beak up at them all. "(It's the _rest_ of them that couldn't keep up!)"

Monferno shrunk back from the harsh tone. As Grotle glanced down at the ground in shame, Gliscor wailed in self-pity.

Pikachu's ears dipped. That had been harsh. True, but harsh...

Buizel rounded on Staraptor, looking annoyed. "(What wazzat?!)" he slurred.

Staraptor glared at Buizel. "(You heard me. All you idiots had to do was beat _one each_. Then we would have won.)"

Buizel balled a fist. "(Hey, it ain't _our_ fault Ash changed his strategy! Tried to...)" He wobbled slightly. "(... copy Paul's style, instead of sticking to his own!)"

"(You're blaming Ash for that?! _You're_ the one who couldn't follow it!)"

"(Why, you...!)"

"(Hey, hey, come on, guys...)" Grotle said, trying to calm them down.

"(You and Grotle ignored the plan! I even made it easy!)" Staraptor said, flapping his wings angrily. "(I took out Weavile, and expected the rest of you to follow me! Only Monferno managed it!)"

"(Well, I...)" Monferno mumbled.

Buizel let out an unimpressed puff of air. "(You want a medal for that?)" he asked Staraptor.

"(Guys, please...)" Pikachu said, slowly walking over to get in-between them. His burns stung, but he was trying to ignore that.

"(At least I took somebody out!)" Staraptor snapped.

"(Yeah,)" Buizel replied. "(Weavile. The weakest member of the team. Big whoop.)"

"(It was more than _you_! Plus, I had a disadvantage, but I still won!)"

"(Well, that just shows how weak he is, then, doesn't it?!)"

Staraptor went red in the face from anger.

"(Guys!)" Pikachu said, getting in-between them. "(Stop fighting!)"

"(Yeah,)" Grotle agreed, walking over to stand nearby. "(Cool it, you two.)"

"(Why should I?!)" Buizel asked angrily. "(Bird brain here started it!)"

Staraptor huffed. "(Well, if you hadn't been stubborn and lost to that stupid Ursaring...!)" he said.

Buizel pressed his nose against Staraptor's beak aggressively. "(Hey, last I checked, _you_ lost to him, too!)"

Staraptor scowled. "(Says the one who's never once won against Paul's team!)"

"(This was my first time fighting 'em! You forget?!)" Buizel reached up and knocked his fist against Staraptor's head a few times. "(Or is there nothing in there?!)"

"(_Hey_!)"

"(Guys!)" Pikachu said, trying to push them apart.

"(Let's just all calm down, okay?)" Grotle asked politely.

"(Only me and Monferno have _ever_ beaten Paul!)" Staraptor snapped.

"(Th-There was Ambipom, too...)" Monferno mumbled. Beside him, Gliscor was still crying.

Staraptor turned to glare at Monferno. "(That doesn't count! She's not part of our team anymore! Heck, she's not even here anymore!)" He fluffed up his feathers. "(Whereas _I_ have beaten Paul _twice_!)"

"(Feh,)" Buizel replied. "(You talking about that stupid PokéRinger? Oh, whoop de frigging do. You flew around and put a ring on a hook. You must feel _so_ special.)"

Staraptor's feathers bristled as he turned his glare back on Buizel. "(Why, you little-!)"

"(Enjoy being an 'honorary citizen' of _Squalorville._)"

Staraptor's face held nothing but pure, unbridled rage. "(That's _Squallville_! _Squall_! As in _wind_!)"

"(Heh. More like _trash._)"

"(Oh, that is _it_!)" Staraptor immediately shoved Pikachu out of the way with his wing. With a yelp, the mouse landed on the floor. "(You die now!)"

Pikachu quickly looked up, just in time to see Staraptor smash into Buizel with Aerial Ace. The weasel flew across the room, past Grotle, Monferno and Gliscor, before his back smacked into the wall.

After a moment, Buizel looked up at Staraptor, a sinister smirk on his face. "(Oh, so that's how it is, huh? Fine, then, bird brain, have it your way!)"

Taking a deep breath, he let out a powerful Water Gun. It hit Staraptor, and the sheer force of it sent him reeling backwards. His back smacked into the other wall.

"(Guys!)" Grotle called out. Near him, Monferno shrunk back and Gliscor wouldn't stop crying. "(Knock it off!)"

Staraptor zipped forward with Quick Attack. Buizel did the same with Aqua Jet. The other pokémon dove out of the way as the two clashed in the middle of the room. Pikachu watched in horrified awe as the two foreheads aggressively pushed against one another, both trying to gain dominance. When neither would budge an inch, they broke off from one another and landed on the ground.

Spinning on the spot, Buizel released a Sonic Boom from his tail. Far too close to dodge it, Staraptor used Close Combat to smack it behind him. It went flying towards the doorway, which Nurse Joy and Chansey were suddenly hurrying through.

"What's going on in-?" Nurse Joy asked, but was interrupted by an explosion right next to her. She screamed in shock.

Ignoring her, Staraptor flew up high, trying to gain an advantage. Buizel, however, only fired off more Sonic Booms, which the bird chose to fend off with more Close Combats. He kicked and swung at every oncoming gust of sound, which sent them flying around the room. There were explosions everywhere, and the sound of screaming pokémon as they all tried to scramble out of the way.

Pikachu got hit by one and was sent rolling. When he stopped, now in even more pain than before, he looked up just in time to see a Water Pulse flying straight towards Staraptor. It hit him square in the chest.

It was then that Ash, Dawn, Brock and Piplup came running into the room, as well as a blissey that Pikachu hadn't seen before. She was wearing a nurse's hat, though, which probably meant she belonged to Nurse Joy.

"What's going on?!" Ash cried out. All five gasped as they saw the carnage.

"(Whoa...)" Piplup said.

Blissey flailed her arms in panic. "(The healing room!)" she cried.

"(What the-?!)" Chansey cried, frowning.

"What happened in here?!" Brock asked.

"Was it Team Rocket?!" Dawn asked, looking worried.

"(... Who?)" Chansey asked, glancing at her.

"It's the staraptor and buizel!" Nurse Joy replied, frantic. "They're-!"

"(Die!)" Staraptor yelled, dive-bombing with Aerial Ace.

There were cries of pain as every pokémon in the room was struck. Before he had time to react, Pikachu was sent flying across the room. As he hit the floor, he rolled, only coming to a stop at Ash's feet. His burns seared with pain.

... Why was Staraptor attacking everyone _else_ now? Sure, they'd done a poor job against Paul's team, but did that really warrant being attacked?

Tenderly, Ash knelt down and picked Pikachu up. The boy looked shocked and horrified. "Staraptor!" he cried, his head snapping upwards. "What are you doing?!"

Pikachu looked up to see Staraptor still using Aerial Ace on his teammates. Each one was blasted across the room, a few smashing into walls and others being littered with debris. The room was a mess.

"I think Staraptor's confused!" Brock suddenly said.

Pikachu's eyes widened. Looking closely, he supposed Staraptor's gaze did seem a little unfocused.

"Oh no..." Dawn replied.

"Staraptor, snap out of it!" Ash cried.

"(Brave Bird?)" Staraptor replied. "(Alright!)"

Pikachu's eyes snapped open even wider. Uh oh.

The bird flew in a backwards loop. As he gained momentum, fire blazed from his feathers. Then he shot downwards at an incredible speed, now glowing blue. He slammed headfirst into the healing machine.

What followed was a humungous explosion. Monferno and Grotle, who had been standing near it, went flying. The debris scattered across the room, raining down on Buizel and Gliscor. The seven people in the doorway shielded their eyes from the updraft of dust, with Ash also shielding Pikachu.

When it settled, Pikachu looked up, only to see all five of his teammates sprawled out across the floor, groaning in pain.

A few moments passed. Then Staraptor fainted, most likely from the recoil of Brave Bird. Not long after, Buizel, looking far more sickly than before, also fainted. Probably partly because of the poison. Now buried underneath a pile of rubble, Gliscor also fainted.

Monferno, who'd been slammed against a wall, fell flat onto his front, having also fainted. Grotle, who was lying on the floor nearby, pushed himself up slightly and looked over at the others. After a moment, he heaved a dejected sigh.

Pikachu was about to do the same, until he felt his burns throb. They did it once, twice, three times, all in quick succession. Then he blacked out.

* * *

Pikachu could hear something. A smacking sound? It was happening over and over again, and... were those yelps accompanying it?

He slowly opened his eyes. He blinked, adjusting his vision. Above him was a light fixture, surrounded by white.

"(Chansey, no!)" he heard Blissey cry.

He turned to the side, to see her flailing her arms in panic as Chansey continually smacked Buizel on the head with Pound. The weasel was lying in a bed, covered in bandages, and was yelping in pain after every hit.

"(The jerk deserves it!)" Chansey replied.

In the next bed over, Staraptor - who was also covered in bandages - chuckled at Buizel's misfortune. Chansey immediately rounded on him.

"(Oh, don't think _you're_ getting away, either!)" She hurried over, her paw still glowing, and smacked him on the head even harder and faster than she'd done with Buizel. He yelped in pain. "(You broke Nurse Joy's healing machine, you lousy-!)"

"(Chansey!)" Blissey cried, running over and grabbing her paw. She held it in place. "(Don't injure the patients more than they already are!)"

Chansey growled in response. After a few moments of contemplation, she put her paw down and huffed.

Buizel and Staraptor both sighed in relief.

... So this is where they'd all ended up, huh? The hospital beds of the pokémon centre. Pikachu looked down at himself and, sure enough, he was lying in a bed, covered in bandages. Turning around, he looked on the other side and saw his other teammates. Grotle was in the next bed over, trying to comfort a crying Gliscor in another bed. On the end bed, Monferno lay motionless, probably still unconscious. All three of them were also covered in bandages.

After a moment, Grotle seemed to notice him. He turned around with a smile. "(Oh, hey, Pikachu,)" he said.

"(Hey...)" Pikachu replied tiredly.

"(Glad to see you're awake. To bring you up to speed... the healing machine broke, so they have to heal us the old-fashioned way. With potions and bandages and lots of rest, which... don't work as well.)" His smile turned sheepish.

"(... Ah. Well... thanks.)"

"(No problem.)" From the bed next to Grotle, Gliscor suddenly wailed. The turtle hastily spun around. "(Hey, hey, it's okay...!)" He smiled comfortingly.

Pikachu lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. So this is what it had come to. Bed and bandages. It reminded him of the time he'd lost horribly to Lieutenant Surge's raichu...

... Man. He'd wanted to look so cool. If he'd managed to beat Paul - heck, if he'd at least done _well_ against Paul - he'd have been able to proudly face his crush afterwards. Maybe even share a few stories with her about how he'd overcome the odds, when they'd been stacked against him. She'd have been so impressed, and her eyes would have glowed with adoration.

Now, though? She had nothing to be impressed about, and he had nothing to be proud of. He'd fought two battles, and lost both of them. He'd let his team down. He'd let Ash down.

He'd even let Buneary down, considering all the encouragement she'd given him. How certain she'd been of his victory. How much faith she'd had in him...

Heaving a sigh, he sunk underneath the covers in both shame and embarrassment. Honestly, after his performance today, it would be hard to face either Ash _or_ Buneary right now.

Ash would be reeling from his loss, and Buneary...

... She probably wouldn't find him attractive anymore.


	8. Nursing Wounds

Author's note: Yo, guys! Sup?

... Gotta say, I'm really not a fan of this episode. XD Like, at all. You can bet that a scene that's supposed to come later (which is the cringiest thing to come out of this anime) will be skipped like nobody's business. If you don't know what I mean, then... that's probably for the best.

(Though VGS2's fifth betrayal one-shot has the exact dialogue, copied word-for-word, if you're interested. All the way up to "Check this!" It was utter torture to listen to...)

... By the way, how many of you remember what Buneary actually sounds like? Especially in episodes like Hold the Phione? If you don't, then... again, that's probably for the best. XP

(She could probably stand to sound a lot cuter, is all I'm saying...)

Alright, enough of that. Ignore my tired ramblings written the night before posting, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Best mistakes of the day:**

'Brock had decided to join the nurses, helping out by bandagong'

(... I'm sorry, what? XD Is that some kind of tribal dance? *Brock does the bandagong around the room*)

'Pikachu felt his heat sink.'

(Oh, good! That means he won't... *looks at fic's rating* ... um... be too cold, I guess! Hahaha...)

* * *

**Chapter Eight****: Nursing Wounds**

_"I can't believe you failed," Dawn said, looking down at Pikachu with sad eyes. "Ash put so much faith in you."_

_Pikachu's ears dipped. "(Well, I know, but...)" he replied meekly, "(but Paul's strategy was too good...)"_

_"(You're his starter!)" Piplup yelled from on top of Dawn's head. "(You, of all pokémon, shouldn't be failing! It lets the whole team down!)"_

_Pikachu shrunk down in shame. "(But... But Paul's team were really strong, though...)"_

_Brock folded his arms, a disapproving gaze on his face. "After all the training you did, you couldn't even defeat __**one**__ of Paul's pokémon?" he asked. "It's quite pathetic, really."_

_"(But... But...)"_

_"How could you, Pikachu?" Ash asked, his hat hanging solemnly over his eyes. "I trusted you to help me win! We were supposed to beat Paul, and show him the power of friendship, but... you screwed it up."_

_"(No, please, Ash, I'm sorry! I wanted to beat him, I really did! But his team was too strong, and his strategies were too perfect!)"_

_Ash turned his back to Pikachu. "(Goodbye, Pikachu.)" He began walking away._

_Brock and Dawn turned and walked after him, not saying another word._

_Bowing his head in defeat, Pikachu turned away, unable to bear watching them leave. He perked up when he saw a beaming Buneary on the other side of him._

_"(Buneary!)"_

_Her beaming smile turned into a pitying one. "(Sorry, Pikachu,)" she said, "(but, after losing that battle, you're not hot anymore.)"_

_Pikachu's small smile immediately fell away in shock and disbelief. "(... What?)"_

_"(Yeah, sorry. Losers just aren't hot, you know? Only winners are hot!)" She hopped to the side a few times and latched herself onto Monferno's arm. "(Like Monferno here~! He's a winner.)"_

_Pikachu felt his stomach drop in horror. "(But... But Monferno __**did**__ lose!)"_

_"(Not before battling four times, __**and**__ knocking out the one no one else could~! Out of all of you, he's the biggest winner~!)"_

_"(Heh,)" Monferno replied, smirking, "(well, I guess I can't argue.)"_

_"(But...)" Pikachu weakly protested._

_"(See?)" Buneary said, ignoring him. "(So, Monferno, you big, hot hunk of a man! You wanna date?)"_

_Monferno grinned. "(Heck yes, I do,)" he replied._

_"(N-No, wait!)" Pikachu protested louder. "(Please! I can change! I can fight better! Don't stop liking me!)"_

_Buneary and Monferno began to fade away._

_"(Wait!)" he cried again. "(I haven't even told you... I...)"_

_They were gone._

_He stared at the blank space, still in shock. _

_After a few moments, the legs of a human girl stopped in his line of vision._

_"You failed, huh?" the girl asked. "Well, it just goes to show that you were never cut out for battling, doesn't it?" She knelt down and held out a hand. "You never should've left. Come back where you belong, okay? Back with __**us**__."_

_"(Yeah,)" another female voice agreed, as a paw suddenly grabbed his own, "('cause I got __**you**__, babe.)"_

* * *

Pikachu's eyes snapped open. He blinked rapidly a few times, as his pounding heart slowly calmed down. He saw Staraptor and Buizel, heavily bandaged and lying in hospital beds, avoiding eye contact with each other.

... Okay. It had been a dream. That was a relief.

Still, though, that had been one rough dream. It would take him a little while to recover from that one.

Heaving a sigh, he rolled over in his hospital bed. He grunted as he felt an aching in his muscles. He scrunched his eyes shut. Yeowch, he could already tell that he wasn't going to be having a fun day.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Grotle, Gliscor and Monferno, all of which were lying awake in their hospital beds. Pikachu was about to open his mouth and greet them, but he froze at the sight of someone standing on the chair by Monferno's bed.

... Buneary?

At that moment, Grotle glanced in his direction. The tortoise smiled. "(Oh, morning, Pikachu,)" he said.

Buneary whirled around in her chair. She beamed at the sight of Pikachu. "(Oh, you're awake!)" she cried. Jumping off the chair, she hopped in his direction, then jumped onto the chair next to his own bed. "(Heeeey! G'morning!)"

... Right, yeah. Just because the Buneary in his dream had left him for Monferno, it didn't mean the real one would, too. After all, she wasn't that shallow, right?

"(Morning,)" he replied.

"(How ya doing?)"

"(Okay, thanks.)"

"(Good~! Oh, and I'm loving the new do! It's very 'you'.)"

He paused, confused. "(New do?)"

"(Yeah, the hair thing you got going on!)" She moved her paw in a sideways motion near her forehead. "(It's all swished to the side near the bandage!)"

He stared at her, horror settling into his stomach. He quickly tried to smooth it back into place, though it wasn't easy with the bandage in the way.

Hair. That was a 'nope', if ever he'd heard one.

She kept her smile. "(Aww. Well, you look hot, either way, so it's fine~!)"

He smiled slightly, something warm bubbling in his stomach at that. However, he couldn't help but be reminded of his loss to Paul, and how that had affected his dream. The bubbling faded, just a bit.

"(Thanks...)"

"(No problem~! Oh, and Ash came in here earlier, but you were asleep. Guy didn't look too good. Dawn and Brock left with him. I snuck back in to check on you guys~)"

... Ash hadn't looked so good? Oh dear.

... Though he did appreciate Buneary coming back to check on them.

"(Yeah,)" Grotle's voice from nearby agreed, "(he, uh... heh... looked a bit out of it, honestly.)"

"(He's probably so disappointed!)" Gliscor wailed.

"(Yeah...)" Monferno mumbled.

An annoyed huff came from both Buizel and Staraptor, neither choosing to say anything.

Gliscor was probably right, though. Ash was likely rather disappointed in their loss...

Of course, it wouldn't be as bad as the dream, where Ash had left Pikachu for losing. No, it was more likely that Ash was just generally feeling down about the loss. Probably wondering what had gone wrong, after all their preparation, just like Pikachu was.

Not to mention, being unable to put Paul in his place, like they'd wanted. Instead, the trainer with the cold, ruthless training methods had won out over the trainer with the kind, patient methods...

"(Hey, cheer up, guys!)" Buneary said, her smile never fading. "(I think you all did great!)"

"(... You weren't even _watching_ the battle,)" Staraptor replied.

"(Well, no, but I heard it all from my pokéball! Plus all the commentary from Brock, Dawn and... what's-his-face... Paul's brother.)"

"(Reggie?)" Pikachu asked.

"(Yeah, that's it! Reggie! They were pretty much narrating everything, so I got it! And I think you guys did great!)"

"(But...)" Gliscor replied, sniffling, "(but we lost so badly, though!)"

"(It's okay to lose sometimes! Not everyone has to win all the time! It just means you have to pick yourselves up and try again next time!)"

"(But...)" Monferno said uncertainly.

"(I believe in you guys! All of you! Train hard and give him what for next time!)"

"(Pfft,)" Buizel replied, sounding unimpressed. "(Didn't you say we'd win six-zero?)"

Buneary blinked, looking a bit perplexed. Then she smiled again. "(I guess I did, huh? Well, I was a little bit wrong this time! But that's okay! It's okay to lose!)" Her gaze swept across the room. "(You all tried your best, and worked really hard. Paul was just a _little_ too strong this time. But, next time, you'll beat him for sure! I believe in all of you!)"

Pikachu stared at her in awe, unable to speak.

She looked towards Buizel and Staraptor. "(So no more fighting, okay? I heard the fight last night and it sounded pretty brutal.)" Neither pokémon responded. She beamed brighter. "(Now's not the time for fighting! Now's the time to band together and figure out how to beat Paul! I know you guys can do it!)" She lifted up her arms and waved them around, like she was holding pom-poms. "(Go, team~! Number one~! Battle on, and get it done~! Time to get this battle won~! Do it right, and have some fuuuun~!)" She did one last dramatic waving of her imaginary pom-poms, then struck a pose.

Everyone stared.

"(I asked Piplup what the old cheer was, and he remembered! So I did it. Did you like it?)"

There were a couple of moments of silence. Then all five of Pikachu's teammates laughed heartily, all tension in the room gone.

Pikachu's heart swelled. He couldn't help the beaming smile that crossed his lips.

"(... What?)" Buneary asked, looking around in confusion.

"(Thanks,)" Gliscor said, wiping away his tears. "(I needed that.)"

"(Me too,)" Monferno agreed.

"(Oh!)" Buneary replied, beaming. "(No problem!)"

"(... Alright,)" Staraptor said, "(maybe I was a _little_ too harsh on you guys.)"

"(A little?)" Buizel asked in amusement.

"(Okay, a lot. I wanted to win. More than anything, but... I guess you guys did, too.)"

"(Yeah, definitely,)" Monferno replied.

"(Very much so,)" Grotle agreed.

"(Mmm-hmm!)" Gliscor added, his voice warbling, like he was nodding really fast.

"(Yeah...)" Pikachu added, a bit distracted.

"(Exactly,)" Staraptor said, "(so... I'm sorry. For being a jerk.)"

"(Heh,)" Buizel replied. "(We'll forgive ya this time.)"

What followed was more hearty laughter.

Wow. Not only had Buneary brightened everyone's moods, but she'd also managed to convince Staraptor to apologise. Now everyone was back to being friends again.

Pikachu's heart positively glowed. She truly was one in a million, wasn't she?

* * *

Owww... It seemed Pikachu had been right about not having a fun day. Pretty much as soon as the group had left their beds to go and get their bandages changed, he'd started aching all over, barely able to move. It seemed it was true for the other five, too, judging by their groans of pain.

On the table, Pikachu and Monferno were been tended to by Nurse Joy. On one side of the floor, Grotle and Staraptor were being tended to by Blissey, and, on the other side, Buizel and Gliscor were being tended to by Chansey.

"(You know,)" he heard Blissey say, "(I know a Nurse Joy in Unova, who has an... audeen? Audyne? Some other pink pokémon that knows a healing move. It'd be nice if _I_ had that, but I don't even have Soft-Boiled.)" She paused. "(... Maybe I should learn it, in case this happens again...)"

"(Please do...)" Grotle replied.

Silence fell as the three nurses continued with their bandaging.

* * *

Sometime later, Brock had decided to join the nurses. Taking over from Chansey, he and Happiny set about tending to Gliscor and Buizel. Meanwhile, Chansey had taken over from Blissey and was tending to Grotle and Staraptor, while Blissey was helping Nurse Joy tend to Pikachu and Monferno.

Pikachu wasn't entirely sure what was going on, and why everyone was moving around, but it didn't really matter. As long as his bandages were changed, he was fine with whatever they did.

"I'm still sorry about the mess earlier, Nurse Joy," Brock said. "Maybe I could pay you back for that machine we broke?"

'We', he'd said. It was just like Brock to take responsibility for something one of Ash's pokémon had done.

"Oh dear, no!" Nurse Joy replied. "There's no way children like you could afford such a machine!"

"(... Audeerno?)" Blissey muttered to herself. "(No, that's not it...)"

"At least let me pay a little towards it," Brock said.

"... Alright, but only a little," Nurse Joy replied. She sighed. "The money from the festival tonight was supposed to go towards a new machine, but... it looks like I'll just be replacing the old one."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It can't be helped now."

"(We'll just have to take more... _precautions_-)" Chansey said, as Pikachu heard a sudden yelp from Staraptor, "(in the future.)"

Staraptor groaned. "(I said I was sorry...!)" he replied.

"Careful, Chansey!" Nurse Joy cried.

"(Sorry~!)" Chansey replied, not sounding sorry at all.

"... Uh, anyway..." Brock said, "I sure hope Ash is doing okay."

Pikachu's ears twitched.

"Oh?" Nurse Joy asked. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, he didn't take his loss well at all. He went elsewhere to... cool his head, I guess." He paused. "Dawn wanted to go after him, but I told her she shouldn't. Ash can get a bit... testy when he's in a bad mood."

"Ah, I see. So it's better for him to brood?"

"Yeah, sadly. He'll be fine after a while, though, I think. He just needs some time to cool off. I just didn't want them to get into a fight in the hallway."

"I guess that's understandable..."

Pikachu felt his heart sink. So Ash hadn't improved since that morning. He'd only gotten worse. He couldn't help wonder if there was anything he could do for his best friend...

He moved slightly and his muscles twinged painfully. Ow... Maybe he'd worry about it later.

* * *

A while later, when all of the team's bandages had been reapplied, Pikachu felt happy to close his eyes and rest for a bit. Everything ached. He hoped it wouldn't last for too many days, but pokémon were tough creatures, so maybe he'd be alright. As for right now, though, not so much.

As he was resting, he heard Brock loudly flirt with Nurse Joy. Afterwards, there was much screaming as he desperately tried to convince Croagunk that it wasn't what it looked like, in the clear hopes that the frog wouldn't Poison Jab him. Somehow, it worked and Croagunk walked away.

... It was kind of impressive, really.

"(Next time...)" Croagunk muttered as he walked past Pikachu.

"(Dang it, I was too slow...)" Chansey growled quietly from nearby. "(Next time...)"

... Seriously, those two were disturbing.

"Huh?" Nurse Joy suddenly asked. "Oh dear... Monferno's recovery seems so slow..."

Pikachu cracked an eye open, looking at the monkey lying on the table beside him.

Hmm... yeah, his tail fire did seem quite a bit dimmer than usual. Jeez, just how much damage had the poor guy sustained?

"Brock, please..." Nurse Joy continued, "do you think you could go into the woods near here, and look for some cheri berries for me?"

... Cheri berries? Wouldn't oran berries have been better?

"I'd love to!" Brock replied enthusiastically. "I'll be back soon."

"Thank you." Nurse Joy sounded relieved. "I need to reignite the fire on his tail, and cheri berries are perfect for it. They'll warm his body right up!"

... Ah. Now Pikachu understood. It was less of a health problem and more of a... too cold problem, he supposed.

He watched with his cracked open eye as Brock left the room. Once he was gone, he looked back at Monferno, lying motionless on the table next to him. Then he glanced down at the floor, where his other four teammates were.

Again, he thought of Ash, and how the boy needed cheering up.

Then he remembered Buneary, and how she'd cheered everyone up with her bright, warm smiles and her bubbly personality.

... Hmm...

* * *

A little while later, once five of the six pokémon had recovered and were okay to walk, Pikachu hopped down from the table and gathered his friends together, telling them that he had an idea. They stood in front of him, eager to listen.

"(So, since Ash is feeling really down,)" Pikachu said, looking at them one by one, "(I thought maybe we could find him and cheer him up! Just like Buneary did with _us_ this morning.)"

Gliscor gasped in delight. "(That's a great idea!)" he replied.

Grotle nodded. "(Yeah,)" he added, "(the guy needs it after yesterday.)" He looked at his friends. "(Not that I'm blaming anyone.)"

Buizel glanced at him. "(Yeah, we know,)" he replied. He looked back at Pikachu, folding his arms. "(Sounds like a plan, Pikachu. So how do we cheer him up?)"

Pikachu paused, having not given this much thought. "(Well...)" he replied slowly, "(I guess... we just show him that we're fine... that we're not affected by the loss. Knowing Ash, part of why he's sad is probably 'cause he thinks _we're_ sad.)"

"(We _were_ sad, though...)" Gliscor replied.

Staraptor ruffled his feathers, though non-aggressively this time. "(Yes, well...)" he said, "(we're fine _now_, aren't we?)"

Gliscor smiled, sticking out his tongue. "(I guess so!)"

Pikachu also smiled. "(Yeah, exactly!)" he said. He pumped his fists, his smile more determined. "(I think we should channel Buneary and give some of that positive energy to Ash! Let him know that losing isn't everything and we'll come back stronger next time!)"

Buizel smirked. "(I'm up for that,)" he replied.

Grotle nodded. "(Me too!)" he added.

"(Me three!)" Gliscor cheered.

"(Sounds good,)" Staraptor agreed. He paused, glancing behind him briefly. "(And what about Monferno?)"

His smile slipping slightly, Pikachu looked up at the table, where Monferno was still lying motionless. "(Uh...)" he replied. He looked back down, unsure what to say.

"(Yeah, he should be there _with_ us!)" Gliscor said, looking sad again.

"(I agree,)" Grotle added. "(It'd help with the whole 'we're fine' thing.)"

"(Ash'd be happy to know _he's_ okay, too, right?)" Buizel said. "(_Especially_ him.)"

"(We should wait for him to heal first,)" Staraptor said. "(Then we can all go together. Right, Pikachu?)"

All four of them looked at Pikachu. His eyes widened in surprised delight. Yeah, his teammates were right. It just wouldn't be the same without Monferno. It wouldn't mean as much without him. In order to truly show Ash that everything was fine, it was essential to bring the monkey along.

He gave them another determined smile. "(Right!)" he replied. "(You guys are right. When Monferno eats those cheri berries, and his fire burns again, we'll all go to see Ash together!)"

"(Yeah!)" all four of them cheered in synch.


End file.
